Bosnia in Limbo: Testimonies from the Drina River - Tapa blanda

"A thrilling, vivid reportage rich in analysisand vice versa."Maria Antonia Sanchez-Vallejo, Babelia, El Pais, May 2017 "An extensive reportage on Bosnia and its problems; an essay on the consequences of war; a personal and passionate description of a trade, with elements of almost a Wild West movie, including a gallery of portraits of the region's inhabitants...and the difficulties on the ground to modernise the country."Daniel Gascon, Letras Libres, March 2017 "An essay which interest lies in something a bit difficult to find in these days of effervescence and ideological packs: doubts."Alvaro Gonzalez Esteban, Jot Down

To this day, almost all narratives on Bosnia focus on the 1990s, the war, and the labyrinth that Daytons institutional system represents. They also tend to be imbued with a perspective that often overdoes the ethnic and religious element. The truth is that, beyond the causes of war and its manifold tragedies, we actually know very little of its forgotten consequences, once the CNN effect is long gone. As importantly, we know very little of Bosnia today: a society shaped by the past, yes, but also exposed to shifting 21st century dynamics. A society haunted not only by war tragedies but also by a long-standing and long overlooked social crisis. This revealing book thus tries to provide a somewhat different picture of Bosnia, twenty years after the war. Largely based on the authors experience in the field, it is to some extent an account of rural Bosnia, in particular of the Drina River Valley, which bore the brunt of the ethnic cleansing in the 1990s. Yet, and starting off from that isolated region of open wounds, unfinished issues and a cast of characters that range from displaced persons and victims to committed women, the book aims to overall provide a portrait of modern Bosnia as such, while also looking critically at the workings of the international community and European diplomacy. The book, with its landscape of activists, Western diplomats, and an underground world in Sarajevo for LGBT and youths, shows a country of so far failed Springs and leaders who go on with their bad governance. Meanwhile the Europe towards which Bosnia theoretically moves, drifting between a poor understanding of the country, a fear of conflict that acts as its Achilles heel, as well as lack of genuine interest, seems unable to really change things. In a way, therefore, a country in limbo.