About the Author

Anthony Loyd served as a platoon commander in the British army for operations in Northern Ireland and the Persian Gulf before going to work in Bosnia. He is now a special correspondent for The Times of London, for which he has covered seven other wars, including the conflicts in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and Kosovo.

Reviews

"A fascinating look at war from a front-row seat." --Denver Rocky Mountain News

"Loyd's fragmentary reports morph into first-rate war correspondence from Bosnia that places him into the great tradition of Hemingway, Caputo, and Michael Herr." --Boston Globe

"An extraordinary evocation of the war in Bosnia, that is also a painful personal story . . . idiosyncratic, unsparingly graphic, refreshingly critical, and beautifully written." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"What a writer, what a vision. It's hard to read and not be impressed." --San Diego Union Tribune

"Battlefield reportage does not get more up close, gruesome and personal." --The New York Times

Loyd, a crack war correspondent for the Times of London, exposes the excruciating horror of combat in both Bosnia and Chechnya Europe's most devastating military campaigns since World War II and ruthlessly analyzes his own motives for seeking the assignments. The author was after the excitement of war that he did not find in his own military service but was mentally unprepared to observe the chaos he discovered in the life-and-death struggle among the Serbs, Croatians, and Bosnian Muslims. In this powerful book, the award-winning international reporter takes a close look at the seductive savagery of the conflict from the brink of his own abyss. Read in a well-phrased and beautifully modulated British accent by Steven Crossley, this superbly written work is a classic of war literature for young and old alike. James L. Dudley, Westhampton Beach, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.