Safe Area Gorazde s/c

Amazing Insight!!!

In chapter four of his The "New Journalism" Revisited, Rocco Versaci explains that to many New Journalists "all "truth" is mediated, and we ignore this fact at the expense of our critical faculties" (115). He further contends that many new journalists attempt to acknowledge and consequently overcome the biases of journalism by involving themselves directly in their narrative frameworks, thereby "flaunting their subjectivity" (114). Joe Sacco's 2001 Safe Area Gorazde is an example of new journalism wherein the author places himself firmly within the story and examines all levels of truth, relaying many voices in non-linear fashion to perhaps encapsulate the skewed emotional ups and downs of war. Sacco, it seems, is not searching for a central truth with which to unify his experiences in Bosnia. In the book's prologue (1-2), he is approached by a man who promises to reveal to him the "Real Truth" of the war. Sacco consciously avoids the man and he is never mentioned again. Instead, Sacco choses to exemplify the facet of new journalism which Versaci finds most enduring: "the foregrounding of the individual perspective as an organizing consciousness" (111) except that Sacco relates many consciousnesses, and the result is less than ideally organized. Instead of an organizer, Sacco acts as mediator in Safe Area Gorazde, creating a vivid patchwork of wartime experience by many people he meets, including his principle guide Edin whose trips to Grebak to procure food for his family showcase tenacity in the face of starvation (136) and a gaggle of girls Sacco deems "The Silly Girls" who have one wish, for a pair of "genuine American Levi jeans" (56). They are ultimately disillusioned when the jeans they receive are "not originals" (193) however, displaying another facet of wartime fatigue. Elsewhere, Sacco uses his characters as narrators--sharing their war experiences which are then related to the reader in disturbing detail. When a man relates his terror crossing a river to safety on page 110, his story appears in quotations, as though he is speaking not only to Sacco but to reader, the author cutting back to the man in the narrative's present tense as he stares straight off the page (111), continuously reminding us that we are viewing this account from one subjective consciousness, not from a journalist intent on applying his own bias. Such is the success of Sacco's new journalistic graphic storytelling. By the time the author is chastised for taking interest in Bosnia by a local who asks, "Why you come, money?" (192) the reader knows that Sacco is instead embedded in the war-ravaged country to bear witness; indeed the people he has seen speak very much for themselves.

Arrived as expected; wasn't marked or damaged in any way.

I had a history teacher once require us to read a a few chapters of this book about 4-5 years ago. I was fascinated at the time but didn't read the entire book until recently. I decided to purchase it after hearing about a Bosnian patient of mine disliking a Croatian coworker. (I live in Utah - so I wouldn't ever classify us as culturally diverse, but the disdain this patient felt was almost palpable... a hatred that I could never quite understand) I remembered this book from my Eastern European class and thought that maybe I'd understand that conflict better if I read the entire thing. I was hooked from the start and finished it within a day. It was beautifully done. The artwork was mesmerizing. The words were simple, but piercing. I just kept thinking, over and over again, how these stories were taking place in my lifetime. While I was running around, playing dress up and tag with my friends... these people were dodging shells and fighting for their lives. If only more people were creative like this in their journalism! I couldn't get enough so I just ordered Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza.

Joe Sacco is a creative force in the world, putting himself deep into conflict situations (Bosnia, Palestine), doing extensive research, and then documenting his investigations in the form of graphic novels. Sacco is an artist of the first rank. And brutally honest about situations for which the MSM has neither time nor the guts to honestly report. Thank you, Joe, for your work, which is both informative and entertaining on several levels.Each work stands up to multiple readings, and each reading reveals new glimpses into other worlds than our own safe and comfy one. HIghly recommended. Anything by Joe is is worth adding to your collection.

As a comic book nerd I've long enjoyed Joe Sacco's amazing work. Superb journalism presented in comic book format, he is an artist who reminds us of all of the promise in the format.I bought Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 at my local comic book store because I am in a period of learning more about the Bosnian War and it was by Joe Sacco and I could afford it at the time. I read it following my read of Logavina Street</a> by Barbara Demick and it was a great companion piece. Where Demick's book is all about Sarajevo, Sacco's is about conditions in Safe Area Gorazde, a small place that was under unrelenting siege from 1992 to 1995. Sacco gives a great deal of background information about the conflict while at the same time humanizing it through format and the eyes of the people who lived through the siege (including his own). Each in their own put themselves in the center of the stories they're telling - an acknowledgment of the myth of objectivity.I've read a lot of history and a lot of historical fiction and when the words "siege warfare" come up I tend to think about castles and knights and big walls and the people inside eating their horses. Safe Area Gorazde taught me a lot about modern siege warfare and opened my eyes further to a story I have neglected. It is simple to understand why Mr. Sacco won the Eisner Award for this book. Brilliant, heart-stopping, and terribly sad this is a work of genius - highly recommended.

Our level or should i say, volume of cruelty is nonsensical, bottomless. And there are people who do us a great favour of never letting us forget that, lest we tear each other apart yet again.Thanks to Joe SaccoWe should forgive, but we must never forget—- Marjane Satrapi

This epic Comic by Joe Sacco should be adopted as a school textbook around the world. An impressive report from the Bosnian drama field

Texto original en inglés, todo un imprescindible de la obra de Sacco. No sólo se aprende sobre la guerra de los valcanes sino también sobre sus consecuencias.

If you are unfamiliar with the war in Bosnia, and even if you are, I highly recommend this book. It is wonderfully written and illustrated and does a great job of combining a personal and general overview of the war. Sacco's writing is fantastic.

For anyone who 'missed' the war this is an immense read from both a very localised perspective but also it gives the overall picture and causes of the conflict. One could be forgiven for dismissing the 'comic' book style outright but I can only confirm with others that it is a masterly approach to bringing a conflict to life. It is a work of art on one level and a literary one also.I was old enough to understand the war when it took place but found that it was delivered on the news in a way that failed to illustrate the causes and therefore without the foundations to understand what was going on it passed me by.I bought this together with Martin Bell's ( BBC journalist) 'In Harms Way'. Both are great books in their own right and I now feel enlightened and have a far greater understanding that would enable me to hold my own in any discussion about it.I have also bought the memoirs of Colonel Bob Stewart, who commanded the 1st Cheshire's in their tour as UN peacekeepers, but am yet to read it.This tragic episode in post WW" history has largely been passed over although its repercussions are still being contested in the Court at Hague and the Dutch Courts because of their guilt over the atrocities that they could have perhaps prevented.Any doubts...don't have...buy it.