Blackout by Johanne Hildebrandt

An intensely personal history of the Balkan Wars is laid bare in Johanne's book about her life as a journalist covering the meltdown of the Yugoslav nation. This is not a book about troop movements, military strategy, political foul play, or even about the politics of human aid organizations. It is a book about the Balkan people and what happened to them. It is about those who wrote about the last war in Europe. It is also a book of how one young and reckless woman grew into a brave and slightly older mother. A self biography and a depiction of what happens to innocent people.

The events start in the small south Swedish town of Karlshamn. Johanne is a young journalist intensely bored with writing about local politics and the annual meetings of the towns association for retired people. It is 1992 and the war in Croatia is breaking out.

Deciding to make a difference she packs herself into the car and drives down to the new war zone to become a freelance journalist. The results of which will eventually propel her to become one of the most respected journalists in Sweden.

This is her story of that time, and the people who became her friends, and those who lost their lives, and those who killed. It is also the best description about war that I have read.