From Library Journal
The title suggests that this is a journalistic account of the Bosnian war, but it is not. Weine, codirector of the Project on Genocide, Psychiatry, and Witnessing at the University of Illinois in Chicago, seeks to elucidate the complicated conflict by emphasizing the psychology of everyone involvedAincluding those responsible for making ethnic cleansing part of our vocabulary. Weine sums up his argument precisely when he quotes from UlyssesA"History is a nightmare from which I'm trying to awake"Asaying that the core problem lies in the inability of the Balkan peoples to deal with history in the right way. Weine's attempt is admirable and sincere, but as an outsider he fails to see how intricate the conflict really is; it is severely stereotypical to assert that the post-World War II years were essentially about suppressing bitterness and hatreds. In addition, he neglects the crucial question of why so many were unable and unwilling to distinguish between their nationality and religion. Nevertheless, chapters on the leaders of the recent genocide in Bosnia are particularly interesting, and those with little knowledge of the conflict will find this accessible introductory work helpful.AMirela Roncevic, "Library Journal" Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book News, Inc.
Weine, a psychiatrist who spent six years working with Bosnian refugees, investigates survivors' attempts to reconcile their remembrances of living together in a cherished multiethnic society with the memories of horrific ethnic atrocities. He explore the Bosnian value of , meaning forgiveness and charity, which was central to the experience of living together, then looks at how Serbian leaders used memories to promote ethnic hatred and genocide. The author is an associate professor of psychiatry and co-director of the Project on Genocide, Psychiatry, and Witnessing, at the University of Illinois-Chicago. -- Copyright © 1999 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR All rights reserved Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR


Robert Coles, M.D. author of Children of Crisis and The Moral Intelligence of Children
Robert Coles, M.D. author of Children of Crisis and The Moral Intelligence of Children: "An extraordinary effort, on part of an American psychiatrist, to understand a terrible European tragedy that still puzzles and haunts us. The result is a compelling series of human documents-stories from Bosnia that will bring the suffering there close to our minds and hearts, awaken and inform us mightily."


Tvrtko Kulenovic Ph.D., University of Sarajevo and former president of P.E.N. Bosnia-Herzegovina
"Weine's history, based on survivors' testimonies, produces a history with human faces that is more capable of helping us to fulfill promises then so many Holocaust claims of 'Never again!' Bosnians will be grateful for this book"


Tvrtko Kulenovic, University of Sarajevo, and former president of P.E.N Bosnia-Herzogovina
"Weine's history, based on survivors' testimonies, produces a story with human faces that is more capable of helping us to fulfill promises that so many Holocaust claims of 'Never again!' Bosnians will be grateful for this book."


Ervin Staub, author, The Roots of Evil
"A remarkable book. Everybody ought to read this panoramic view of the tragedy of Bosnia."


Jerrold M. Post, M.D. co-author, Political Paranoia: The Psychopolitics of Hatred
"Through his skillful empathic listening and eloquent writing, Stevan Weine conveys the magnitude of the horrors, the dreadful consequences of man's inhumanity to man."


Yael Danieli, editor, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Fifty Years and Beyond
"A profoundly human book, with a keen ear for the story, and an open heart to convey its depth. Stevan Weine attempts to weave history, human rights, psychology, anthropology, and creative arts into a new perspective on what genocide does to the lives of its survivors and to their culture."


Book Description
When History is a Nightmare is an impassioned investigation of how collective memory has shaped history and lives in the Balkans. And how the mishandling of memories of traumatization actually made ethnic cleansing possible. Weine explores how Tito's government pushed memories of World War II ethnic atrocities aside and allowed the Bosnian value of "merhamet", meaning forgiveness and charity, to flourish in the era of living together. But Bosnians were left unable to recognize ethnic nationalism -- and unprepared to defend themselves. He then offers a vivid look at the other side: how Serbian nationalists leaders Jovan Raskovic and Radovan Karadzic manipulated and spread memories to propel Serbs towards genocide. When History is a Nightmare concludes by probing Bosnians' efforts after ethnic cleansing to reconcile their remembrances of living together in multi-ethnic Bosnia with the memories of ethnic atrocities -- a struggle over memory for the Bosnian future.


From the Publisher
In When History is a Nightmare, Weine offers a deeply human exploration of that nightmare of history, with new ways of understanding and intervening with respect to memories, that can inform the work that will be done in Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia and the Balkans for years to come.


From the Author
Q- What is the worst thing you heard? A- I ask myself, is it the physical and material acts of brutal torture, murder or destruction, or the psychological dimension of betrayal, terror and fear? In the book I argue that it is precisely this distinction that makes ethnic cleansing unique as genocide. The Holocaust was mass murder, whereas ethnic cleansing was sufficient physical and material destruction to annihilate the desire to live together. You didn't have to kill them all, just kill enough to make the others want to leave their homes and never come back. Q- What gives you hope? A- Whenever survivors find the courage and strength to gather themselves and tell their stories.Their suffering in these historical nightmares is immense and horrific, but in each and every story I also find traces of a dream of something good in their lives and history. I hear them say, ethnic cleansing made them feel like nothing, but when they tell the story, they feel human again. No matter how many times it happens, it is very inspiring and a really a tremendous privilege to be a part of that.