Nobel prize-winning author Ivo Andric's historical novel Bridge over the Drina offers insights into the relations between Bosnian Muslims and Serbs during their centuries under Ottoman and Austrian occupation.
Mesa Selimovic's Death and the Dervish is a richly detailed novel set in the Ottoman period, telling the story of a Muslim dervish who dedicates himself to toppling the Turkish government that took his brother's life.
Bosnia : A Cultural History by Ivan Lovrenovic provides a complex and detailed account of Bosnian history. It focuses on the changes in religious, cultural and ethnic influences from Palaeolithic times to the present, probes deep into the past, and helps to enlighten the reader as to the present and potential future of this land. The evolution of the distinctive Bosnian Church, the role of Islam and Judaism, religious and secular architecture, ancient and modern prose and poetry, music, radio, film and television are all discussed to offer a comprehensive portrait of Bosnian culture.
Bosnia: A Short History by Balkan expert and political commentator Noel Malcolm who elucidates the myths and historical fallacies that have dominated not only media coverage of the war, but also, the words and actions of Western statesmen. In particular, he explodes the claim that the war was the inevitable consequence of "ancient ethnic hatreds" and shows that the causes of Bosnia's destruction came from outside itself - first through the strategy of the Serbian leadership, and then through the fatal miscomprehension and interference of Western politicians.
British journalist and winner of the Overseas Press Club Award for the Best Book in Foreign Affairs, Misha Glenny's The Fall of Yugoslavia tackles the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia . It is an eyewitness chronicle which gives historical context to a war that unleashed a cycle of massacres, between peaceful neighbours of the last four decades.
Set in Chicago and Sarajevo, The Question of Bruno by Aleksandar Hemon is a book about the trauma of war and how an exile makes a new life in a new land. Essentially a book about espionage, assassination, history, the art of dodging sniper fire in a modern city under siege, and about making sandwiches in a modern city in the middle of the USA , this is a striking read, painfully funny and heartbreakingly serious.
Anthony Loyd's book My War Gone By, I Miss It So is a vivid, haunting account of the war in Bosnia from 1993 to 1996, from where he reported for the Daily Telegraph and the Times. However, what separates it from standard reportage is the war Loyd was fighting on a personal front, which drove him to seek war as a "final absolution of self-responsibility".
Blood and Vengeance by Chuck Sudetic asks how the shocking and still imperfectly understood act of genocide in Srebrenica was allowed to take place in the first place. This work puts a human face on the grim statistics and tangled politics of this event. Through the odyssey of the Celiks, a Muslim family, journalist Chuck Sudetic tells the story a people and a nation. His narrative fold reaches as far back as the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, and unfolds towards the Celiks' rendezvous with history in the so-called "safe area" of Srebrenica.
Stone Speaker: Medieval Tombs, Landscape, and Bosnian Identity in the Poetry of Mak Dizdar by Amila Buturovic is a brilliant study of a great Bosnian poet Mak Dizdar and his seminal work Stone Sleeper, a moving exploration of Bosnian culture, and a multi-disciplinary illumination of issues of individual and group identity.
Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is a massive but immensely readable travel memoir that walks its readers through 1930s Yugoslavia with an uncommon attention to detail.
Forgotten Beauty: A Hiker's Guide to Bosnia and Herzegovina by Matias Gomez features over 30 walks to the quietest and highest corners of Bosnia and Herzegovina . It presents information in unprecedented detail, using GPS references, 1:25,000 maps, and detailed descriptions for approaches and walks. It provides extensive information on the mine situation and for each walk, and includes contributions from Bosnia 's Mine Action Centre.
