Black ButterFly

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A few years after the event/s I became quite obsessed with the rolling wars that brought about the end of the former Yugoslavia, and read about it voraciously, but it was always the siege of Sarajevo that made my heart hurt the most. It's been a long time since then and I thought I'd had my fill until this novel by Priscilla Morris came along with its enticing cover, for the 30th anniversary of the siege. Morris's story is based upon the real life experience of older members of her own family, and I think it's an essential additional to the canon. It covers the first 10 months, and while it doesn't shy away from the horror and desperation, it also provides an insight to the warmth and humanity of the multicultural populace, trying to go about their ordinary lives under extraordinary circumstances. Rachel Atkins' narration is excellent. The Bosnian war of 1992–1995 was something I knew little about, and this book helped me get some context. While the book doesn’t go into the motivations and differences that led to the conflict (indeed, the characters themselves are at a loss to point a finger at why), it goes give one an insight into the kind of multicultural space Sarajevo was. I had no idea that it was part of the Ottoman empire once, and enjoyed getting glimpses of its culture like how festivals were celebrated and some folklore as well as some of its bridges and landmarks. Sarajevo’s people continue to fight against the seeds of division that the conflict tries to sow (there are some of course, who hold radical views, too). A particularly beautiful, yet highly distressing moment is where people get together to save what they can from the library which is on fire:

Content Consideration: If you are negatively affected by the coverage of conditions in Ukraine, you might need to know that some content in this book is similar. We’re all refugees now, Zora writes to Franjo. We spend our days waiting for water, for bread, for humanitarian handouts: beggars in our own city.” We're all refugees now...We spend our days waiting for water, for bread, for humanitarian handouts: beggars in our own city" The author has researched her book well and it shows in the detailed and precise penning of incidents and feelings. The siege of Sarajevo is told through the eyes of Serbian artist, Zora Kocovic,as she witnesses her city crumble from the shelling of snipers in the mountains surrounding Sarajevo. Her apartment building, art studio (which sits above the library), are obliterated by the incessant bombing. The most devastating results in the death of innocent children and adults murdered while attempting to lead their “normal” and ordinary lives.stars. ( Yes, I said 4.25 here earlier today, but it’s a debut novel, and it is still in my mind after the entire day has passed by. It deserves more!)

This book was an accessible introduction about how inequity works in one city. Because Dr. Brown is a professor of public health, I expected this to be a dense body of work that was hyperfocused on lead poisoning in the city of Baltimore. The book provides a helpful tool for public affairs educators seeking to incorporate discussions of race into the classroom and steps to connect public administration theories of performance, budgeting, and management into a hands-on analysis of cities. It details a process to learn both about spatial inequity and to implement the next steps toward the remediation of historical trauma. In 2019, when then president Donald Trump called Baltimore “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” everyone intrinsically knew he wasn’t referring to actual rats and rodents. The illiberal euphemisms were crystal clear. Such is the nature of bigotry in the 21st century, it manifests itself under the guise of “plausible deniability.” She loves Sarajevo. She knows all its alleys and courtyards, all its scents and sounds—the way the light falls at the end of their street in wintertime, the rattle of the tram, the blowsy roses that bloom each June in the mosque gardens, the plums and fogs in the autumn, the ponderous old men playing chess in the cafés, the mahalas—the old neighbourhoods—that radiate from the centre like the spiral of a snail’s shell. I love teaching as well as writing and teach creative writing at University College Dublin. I have a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and read Social Anthropology at Cambridge University.

Half of Sarajevo is Muslim, a quarter Serb, and fewer than one in ten Croat. A third of marriages are mixed, the children simply calling themselves ‘Yugoslav’.” It was an eye-opener! There were so many situations I simply couldn't fathom - your family property being distributed among strangers because of a communist government's weird beliefs, being on the waiting list for more than a decade to get a flat allotted, the government declaring that anyone can move into empty house as the owners have “abandoned” them… and this is even before the actual war began! How we take our privileges under democracy for granted! Sigh. Putting Baltimore under a microscope, Brown looks closely at the causes of segregation, many of which exist in current legislation and regulatory policy despite the common belief that overtly racist policies are a thing of the past. Drawing on social science research, policy analysis, and archival materials, Brown reveals the long history of racial segregation's impact on health, from toxic pollution to police brutality. Beginning with an analysis of the current political moment, Brown delves into how Baltimore's history influenced actions in sister cities like St. Louis and Cleveland, as well as its adoption of increasingly oppressive techniques from cities like Chicago. But when the unrest intensifies and all avenues to leave are gradually shut down, she is trapped, alone but for her neighbors and students, deriving comfort and support from one another. Braving the elements and coping with food shortages no electricity, no heat and no water while trying to stay alive amid mortar fire and sniper bullets they also bear witness to the destruction of the city they all love and the lives they built around it. What makes this book a 5 for me is the offering of ideas for solutions. It does more than identify and describe challenges. Brown is creative.