Fools Rush In

by Bill Carter

Some trips are chosen, others choose you. When tragedy strikes Bill Carter's life he finds himself drawn to a war zone. Sharing his extraordinary journey into a modern heart of darkness, the besieged city of Sarajevo, we meet a man rebuilding the ruins of his former self in the most unlikely of places. Carter joins a maverick aid organization, 'The Serious Road Trip', and dodges snipers to deliver food and supplies to those the UN can't reach. He makes friends with the artistic community of Sarajevo and fights alongside them for survival in a place where food and water are scarce, where you meet death every day, but crucially where life, love and laughter ring out all the same.

Carter takes his journey one surreal step further and enlists the help of major rock band U2. The ensuing events go no small way to influencing the course of the war and Western awareness of it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, History, War, Politics, Music, European History

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Bill Carter, a native Californian, is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, photographer and journalist. He's the director of the documentary film, MISS SARAJEVO (produced by Bono of the Irish rock band U2) and author of the books FOOLS RUSH IN and RED SUMMER.

Reviews

[Bjorn Sorensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vivid call to awareness, to the sacredness of no expectations, to learning a lesson deeply for seeing its complete fruition through the horrors of war.

Bill Carter is in his twenties and joins a caravan of circus-like vehicles and performers delivering food to Sarajevo and other spots in Bosnia during the ethnic conflict. He's not a journalist, not on any side of the conflict, which highlights his mindset, his innate need to move, travel, by one turn remember and on the other turn forget his past.

The language the author uses in "Fools Rush In" feels perfect for what he's trying to convey. The tone is often sarcastic, often sad and always sensory rich. In one part Carter and his group are living in a heavily shelled, abandoned Sarajevo skyscraper wondering where in the city to start delivering:


Freddie, the community's representative, had come to us during the night looking for food. He talked for almost an hour before he finally got Tony's attention. He hit the magic button when he said the UN refused to deliver to the community because it was too dangerous.

"That's the one then," said Tony, slamming his fist on the table. "We go where others won't. Otherwise we're just like them. Sorted." Like some conference of apes, we all nodded and grunted in agreement, and for a moment it was impossible not to feel like the lost sons of Mother Teresa.


But why is an unattached, young American hanging out in a dangerous war zone, risking his life, losing chunks of his hair and his sanity, frequently going hungry, all to deliver food? Part of the answer lies in the severe abuse he suffers as a child, part of it is in losing someone incredibly important to him in his early twenties. It's not that he's immune to pain - he just knows how to flow with danger, how to not let it overwhelm him into making mistakes. And he's in touch with his surroundings because of how deep within his feelings the circumstances of his life have burrowed. And this is not much of a spoiler as it's explained early on: he had lost the love of his life to a car wreck in California. There is no plea for pity in his voice when he writes about one of his many stages of international travel:


I climbed into the Columbian Andes with no coat and an old pair of running shoes. I walked to a glacier lake at 16,000 feet. The lake was inside what looked like a giant volcano and the surface was like wet black sand. I decided this was a good place to build my signal. I spent one day assembling rocks into a sign that stared straight up into the sky: CORRINA I LOVE YOU.

What is it about love, or the grief of losing love, that makes a person want to swallow the wide world whole? At what point does the everlasting love for one convert into love for many? When the perfect circle made by two becomes so expansive that it includes many others, whether intentionally or not.


For the many fans out there of U2, or U2 haters, this books answers a lot of questions about their style, motivations, and puts some good questions in context. When Bill Carter gets to meet and interview Bono in Italy at the start of some sort of process to bring more attention to the war raging in Bosnia, he's mainly thinking about the plentiful food that's also in the room (and bagging extra for the road) and when his British friend will come back to their tower in Sarajevo. The friend was losing his teeth and had to leave. In what should feel like a climax to the story, the author manages to get live feeds from interviews of war-ravaged individuals piped straight into U2 concerts. Of course, politics tries to distract. But the shame and sadness of 3+ years of the world leaving Sarajevo defenseless outweighs it all.

The reader gets to witness the sheer wealth and power U2 operates under, yet also their openness to helping out who is essentially a stranger at a time when the politicians simply glossed over the problems and solutions to the war and the media just looked to sensationalize the violence. I will say this-U2 needs to do more (artful) PR work, because they bring up a lot of necessary political issues. I think a lot of people then feel guilty or stupid for not affecting more change themselves - this mixed with U2's vast amounts of money. It makes the band and especially Bono seem opportunistic. I think this book goes some distance to dispel that notion. After all, if their egos were too big they wouldn't be able to make one hugely popular CD after another. And I don't follow them that closely, but maybe publicizing their large donations more, like: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news... - would quell much of the disquiet and let more people see what U2 and bands like them are really about. Our mainstream media empires certainly aren't going to do it. I kicked my TV out of the house five years ago and haven't missed it at all.

People start turning against the author for the reasons detailed above even though it's fairly obvious the author is not benefitting financially from the connection and tells everyone that. Still, the desperation of war and rampant misunderstanding start to do in the author's efforts. This is where the single view of an autobiography can break down a bit. We deserve to know a little more about how he fought to keep the false rumors at bay and what other people thought. But maybe he just gave up. Maybe for the same reasons he went there to begin with. Maybe there was nothing he could do anyway - clinging to survival or the guilt of ignoring pain can make a backstabber out of anybody.

There is little doubt that the video hookups between Carter in Sarajevo and U2 on their 1993 European tour helped change international political dynamics. When one last huge bomb destroys a marketplace and kills and injures hundreds of people, the world community has finally ignored the situation enough. U.S. planes and French artillery attacked the Serbs in the hills surrounding Sarajevo, and the Serb siege on the city was quickly over. Snipers killing young children and other innocent civilians came to an end. For those who liked to say that history dictated the conflict and that it was too complex for the international community to understand and help with, a new chapter had been written. A pretty simple one at that.

Reading "Fools Rush In" from the first page to the last was like having a long-awaited conversation with the right person at the right time. You recall so many of the details and the face, of course, you never forget. Words hung in the air, words you carry around with you for a long long time.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book, not just in terms of a genre (hardly travel writing, more reportage) but on a larger scale, about what it means to be alive.

It opens with American Bill Carter hitching a ride to besieged Sarajevo with a rather wacky aid organisation called The Serious Road Trip, who deliver food dressed as clowns. Why is he there? Over the next few chapters we gradually learn about a difficult childhood and a love affair cut short by his girlfriend Corrina's death in a car accident. Since then Bill has been trying to make sense of his life, to no avail.

It gradually begins to seem that Bill is channelling his love for Corrina into an urgent desire to help the Sarajevans. He is far from a dispassionate observer -- he soon feels he is one of them (although not all of them would agree!). At any rate he shares their privations, living for months in a bomb-scarred office block with no electricity or water, surviving on jars of baby food. He is very far from being a professional journalist, but a chance meeting results in him setting up satellite links from Sarajevo to U2 concerts throughout Europe, thus raising awareness of the war, and he ends up making an award-winning documentary, Miss Sarajevo.

He writes beautifully and passionately about his experience and how it changed him, with lyrical, almost nostalgic reminiscences of the friends he makes in Sarajevo. Initially naive, he soon develops a painfully clear-eyed view of the horrors suffered by Bosnians, and the West's cynical and inadequate response. He is honest too (as far as one can tell), describing how after months in Sarajevo living on almost nothing, and virtuously refusing financial support, he accepts $8,000 from U2, reasoning that he is worth at least as much as the despised UN-financed bureaucrats colluding in Serb atrocities or cynical Western journalists sitting eating hot food (a rare luxury for him) in the Holiday Inn. But later he reflects that "the moment I had started to want something from my work, whether it was money, fame, or recognition, everything had stopped working."

In the end, living alone in an adobe house in Tucson, and still missing Corrina, he does achieve some kind of epiphany and the whole book is testimony to the resilience of the human spirit in extreme circumstances. Reading back over what I've written, I can see I really haven't done this terrific book justice. So just find a copy second-hand (it's out of print) and read it.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fools Rush In is about a love story during war - but not your typical love story - it is the story of human connection, of survival and of the love you find for your own life only after a surreal experience. Bill Carter writes in an engaging style that keeps you hooked and wanting more. He tells of his experiences in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war to such detail that you can clearly envision everything in your own mind down to the ping pong table and crazed looks on people's faces. You fall in love with the characters in the book and their visceral instinct for survival. Carter's descriptions of the people living in war-torn Sarajevo make "the power of now" seem like child's play. To live for the moment, for the last drop of wine, the last laugh, the last artery pumping adrenaline surge from listening to music - it truly makes you appreciate the smaller things in life. I highly recommend this book to everyone - but especially to my generation who has grown up listening U2 and hearing of middle eastern conflict, but being so removed in our day to day lives that we have no connection outside of CNN and Colbert. As Bono describes the book, "Dante's Inferno for the MTV Generation". It's a worthwhile read.

[Gale Biddle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I ever read. It's non-fiction (my favorite). It's about a guy who goes over to Bosnia during the war. It's an incredible read--tragic, hopeful, at times funny, at times one of the saddest things I've ever read. Can't recommend it enough. Warning--you will cry when you read this book. I dare you not to...

[Suha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I promised myself I'd stop reading books about war, genocide and tragedies, partly because I feel like historic fiction is all I've been reading lately, but mostly because they make me feel utterly and unbelievably helpless. But I'm really, really glad I broke that promise.
I have no idea what to say about this book except that I was probably born to read this.
The way it was written was lovely, very simple and yet very poetic. The combination and link between the author's personal life and the events of the war was perfectly executed. I admire the author for not trying to portray himself as the ultimate, flawless hero.
The fact that it's a true story makes it even better.
Overall it was an amazing book; it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will make you question your positions and actions.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"It was not our war, but it would be our disgrace, our shame. The West was filling to declare a war over the price of oil, but when it came to the wholesale slaughter of human beings we folded our hands across our chests and tapped our heels, with great anticipation that Sunday's sporting events would be wonderfully entertaining"
"That week we tried everything to bury our heads in the sand. But the problem remains the same world over; the sand is never quite deep enough."
"It's my experience that people want to do something, but become confused by an overwhelming sense of hopelessness, not knowing what to do, and in the end do the only thing they believe they possibly can: nothing."

[Eli Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fools Rush In--what a shame that a romcom snatched the title from Bill Carter after the fact. This movie flies fiercely in the face of the entire philosophy, value-system of romcoms. If the latter are intended to be topical, easy-laugh and feel-good analgesics of the entertainment variety, this book--and I suspect the film, Miss Sarajevo--are anything but. This memoir is about a young man finding himself shattered by grief, so shattered that he becomes indifferent to whether he lives or dies. And only by embracing the chaos of life and road does he find himself somewhere where purpose returns to him. Not quickly, not clearly, but decisively in the end. I think that Bill Carter wrote a love story unlike any that has ever been written: for a people, a place. A people and place that gave him purpose, and that purpose saved him from his sorrow. For fans of raw memoir, of adventure tales, of dark humor, of travelogues, of coming of age stories, of love stories, of elegies.......this is for you. It will ask you to ask yourself how well you're loving and living. It's life-changing.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this while working in Sarejevo, which made it particularly haunting. I actually met Shibby and worked with one of the Surrealists. No joke. I thought this was a great read. It dove deep into the reality of personal tragedy, war, and the personal journey that we all might be on.

[Michael Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most important books I've ever read. Inspiring, uplifting, tragic - all those things. A book to remind you to seize the day, and a floating device to cling to when you've forgotten what it feels like to truly live.

[John Frazier · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most books of consequence, it took me a while to digest "Fools Rush In" to the extent that I felt authorized and considerate enough to comment on it.

Without question it is one of the most visceral books I can recall reading, testament not only to experiences Bill Carter chronicles during his mid-20s, but the manner and sensitivity with which he does so.

Carter is, to me, one of those people you admire not only for their wanderlust, but their ability to exercise and wring every last drop out of it. By this stage in his life he's traveled much of the world, to the extent that the road really seems to be his home, his sense of adventure his constant companion. That he apparently did so with little more than the finances required to buy his next ticket makes it all the more impressive. To be able to uproot yourself without any more planning or knowledge of where you're going, what you'll be doing and whom you'll meet is a skill one must be born with, because I've rarely found myself as willing to confront the unknown and uncertain as he was/is (though it was at that same stage of my life when I was most comfortable doing so).

Carter's travels take him to Alaska, where he meets the love of his young life. And while his feelings and emotions are absolutely universal, his ability to make them his own is refreshing. Most of us have found (and maybe lost, as Carter did) that one person around whom the world seems to revolve, who can leave us breathless and lightheaded simply by being themselves, but we're not all so capable of capturing the surrounding sentiments in a way that makes them seem both unique and reminiscent.

Carter's home base is in northern California, from Santa Cruz to San Francisco to Chico, all places where I spent the same years of my life, so I took an innate interest in his time spent there. Many of his family's dynamics--again not entirely unique but captured with great earnestness--are played out here. (The fact that he now lives in the same town in southeast Arizona as I doesn't hurt either. We have several mutual friends, something I didn't fully appreciate until I read his acknowledgements at the end.)

Most of "Fools Rush In" takes place in war-torn Sarajevo, where Carter's wanderlust leads him to lend his efforts to a humanitarian aid group charged with delivering foods and goods in the middle of the Bosnian conflict. Here I wish Carter had actually gone into a little more detail about the history of the war; as he himself comments, it did not get the press it should have back here and, I believe, it remains one of the least understood wars of our generation. This might've been an opportunity to add to the little knowledge many of us actually have about it.

That said, you don't have to fully understand the politics behind it to feel for the innocent people living through it, whose very lives are threatened by snipers whenever they opt to cross a certain street or visit a certain section of Sarajevo. Carter captures them and their turmoil with vividness and clarity, to the extent that you marvel that any of them survived as long as they did, physically, emotionally, mentally or otherwise. This holds especially true for Carter, who's also trying to survive the loss of his great love at the same time.

That through his sense of adventure and initiative Carter eventually accesses and befriends U2 and gains access to a world so completely opposite the one in which he's living adds yet more texture and intrigue to the story. Here again, I can only envy and admire the grace with which a man who sleeps in a bombed out tower building where the toilets don't flush can ingratiate himself into the company of the one rock band who can help him tell his story like no other.

Toward the end Carter professes that, although it was never his intention to do write this narrative, the telling of his story is in fact part of the story, and that he never harbored any intention of profiting by its publication. As altruistic and familiar as that sounds to many of us who've written our own stories real and fictionalized, I'm not sure I believe it. But it doesn't matter.

This is a great story and if he happens to make enough money from it to buy his next plane ticket, I can only encourage that you buy and read it.

[Heather Powell Browne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excerpted from review originally appearing here<./a>

During the hellishness of living in a war zone, what can music possibly bring to the equation? Through its primal power, can it be a hand to reach out and pull us away?

Bill Carter is a twenty-something from the West Coast who begins his journey into the Bosnia region as a man unmoored. From his earliest memories of abuse at the hands of a terrifying, nauseating, damaged father, he begins his book by telling of his lifelong gravitational pull to places half a world away. When he reaches his early twenties, he finds a temporary harbor of amazing intensity in Santa Cruz in the arms of a girl named Corrina who fills exactly one year of his life with fervor and heat, understanding and laughter. His writing about his relationship with her held my nerve endings up against a white-hot flame, reminiscent of how Rob Sheffield wrote about Renee in Love Is A Mix Tape only with more grit and sexual honesty.

After losing Corrina, Carter's trajectory spins him to a war zone on a humanitarian mission. I felt like he was searching to numb the pain inside of him by immersing himself in even greater pain around him. Life in the seven-mile-by-one-mile oval of land in the heart of Sarajevo is under siege -- a killing zone from snipers in the hills and in the tall buildings, shooting at anything that dares to move. But Carter finds that people do dare to move; they dare to play blues music and rock 'n' roll in clubs where you have to duck your head and run from the incoming shrapnel to get in the dusty side door. They dare to hold art gallery openings and go dancing. They share meals in their homes (away from the vulnerability of the glass windows), they laugh, they make love -- and live in the moment because tomorrow may actually never come.

As Carter says in an interview on Dutch television, "When I got there, it didn't take very long for me to realize that this place was ... timeless. When you entered Sarajevo, in that war, you entered a time zone. There was no past, no future. The past is gone, it's obliterated. The future is how much longer I have to sit here with you before a bomb comes in the window. So what we have is right now. I was living right in the moment, which was a huge relief for me."

Carter fills his days with distributing food through a French group called The Serious Road Trip, lives in a bombed-out office tower in the center of Sarajevo, and they occupy many nights sitting around drinking cheap Eastern European vodka mixed with powdered lemonade, trying to make some sense of what is going on all around them. Carter's journey in this book is honest, and reeling, and confessional. All the foreigners in this story seem, to some degree, to be trying to find a home and a purpose and a community on the other side of the world.

Carter's hesitation mixes with the brashness that we are so prone to in our twenties; the hubris pressed hot against the earnestness, with the passions all bleeding red into our uncertainty. One other Serious Road Trip member remarks to Carter one night, "I am beginning to believe the worst part of being here is knowing this might be the best thing I ever do in my life. I mean I'm only twenty-six. What am I supposed to do for the rest of it?"

Carter's book is about a quest for redemption; for a people, for a city, for himself. It's a riveting read on so many levels, saturated with feelings and uncertainties that I could absolutely relate to even though I've never lived in something like he describes. I was encouraged how one confused, passionate, grieving, flawed twenty-something started a rumble about an injustice in this world, even as he struggled with so many things. He captures a rare joy in this story. And plus, the book mentions Pearl Jam two times, so you know, it's clearly worth it for that alone.

[Asha Stark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad I read this. I picked it up for 50 cents at an op shop, and even then- I only did so because the blurb on the back was so far out that I couldn't even begin to imagine what the book would be like.

Let me say before I go any further: I don't know Bill Carter, I don't know his reputation, I haven't followed his career- Nothing. So all impressions and opinions I have on this book are from someone reading, for all intents and purposes, an unknown author. It was only after I finished Fools Rush In that I did a quick Google because I thought, "Holy shit".

So, the book. There is a lot of introspection in this which will no doubt rub people the wrong way. There's the question of whether or not the author went to Bosnia with the right intentions, or if he had any right to do what he did, write what he did etc.

That said, I'm glad he poured his heart out into this book. I'm glad he went- whatever the reasons were, noble or ignoble- and that he came out the other side in one piece.

I grew up with my mother and grandparents watching the 6pm news every night- EVERY night. Some of my very earliest memories are from the war, and Sarajevo in particular. I believe that that's had a very monumental impact on my outlook in life i.e. I've known from the moment I gained cognisance as a toddler that terrible things happen without obvious reason, that often the people who are meant to be helping simply won't and maybe you'll never know why, and that there isn't always a good guy and a bad guy. In fact, there's rarely one of either. That there's a world out the full of innocent people, full of life and love, and at any moment, they could be mown down by someone else's idealism. That really fucks a kid up, let me tell you.

Before reading Fools Rush In, everything in that paragraph was a part of me, but an unrealised one. How can you really realise something that is a question itself? Now I'm 26, nearly 27, and have suffered personal loss in the last couple of years, but out of that has come the utmost peace I've ever known as well. It hurts, daily. But at the same time I can actually see the vague outline of a future for myself. I feel silly as all hell trying to word all of this, but the fact that Bill Carter managed to marry the loss of the love of his life, and the horror of the war in one book, and again- come out the other side happier for it- I don't know. I'm rambling and hardly making sense even to myself right now but this is the thing: This book is so, unexpectedly important to me because at the end of the day, everyone on earth is some level of fucked up from the life they've lead to this point, and yet we're all still here managing to smile, and to love fiercely every day. And if that realisation means nothing, then nothing else ever could.

[Schroder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty crude and raw depiction of the Sarajevan conflict back in the early-mid 90's. This kid, Bill Carter, was young, running, and broken... writing about his experience working for a humanitarian aid organization that stole from the NGO's and "worthless" bureaucratic UN trucks and walked the plateau between embattled trenches, literally, to deliver food to the needy. "Ask and it shall be given to you." He also strings his personal story in and out of the chapters, some fully dedicated to his former life. Again, his vocabulary is vulgar and forced, but raw as can be for a lonely mid twenties seeker (been through shit from child abuse to death of only loved one, a romantic love that haunts him still). Worth a read if you're interested in challenging the "truth" of what happens in war torn nations as depicted in the media/news. He ultimately does the horror of the conflict justice while bringing the people honor and respect by paying attention to their need for food and Spirit.

First half, about his initial experience in Sarajevo... very good. Second half, about his return to Sarahjevo to document what's goin on there from the inside out while bringing faces from the streets of Sarajevo to millions of ZooTV viewers.

There is also a video documentary about this.

[Jane Compagnone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about the book. It does give insight to the war in Bosnia - the dynamics involved, the history of the war, the impact on the residents of Sarajevo and how they get through the day. However, I couldn't escape the feeling that the book was all about Bill Carter - how HE was impacted by events going on around him - how Corrina's death influenced everything HE did - how other people felt about HIM. His self-absorbed style of writing about the Bosnian experience doesn't seem appropriate for the subject matter.
"Fools Rush In" is still a worthwile read. I have a friend who is from Sarajevo and fled Bosnia during the war - Carter's description of the daily events in war-torn Bosnia is right-on with the Aida's depiction of what life was like when she was there. People should know.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill Carter, an American, is a witness of the siege of Sarajevo, and tries to make sense of the conflict. A conflict more complex than the media often portrayed. We learn there were not two sides in the conflict but at least six different groups with different interests, for example, in the defence of Sarajevo Bosnia Serbs were fighting against Serbs from Serbia. This is the closest we can get to the siege of Sarajevo without actually being there.

[Nelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent depiction of the existence of life in BiH during the period of ethnic cleansing in the nineties. While the writing was very informal, it was very strong and effective in communicating the complexities of war and the interpersonal interactions during such times. I highly recommend this book, there are strong universal truths that Carter beautifully distills throughout the piece.

[Tara]

I cannot recommend this enough. Possibly my most favorite book to date. About the Bosnian war, vagabonding, love, life, etc. I can't WAIT to re-read this one.

[Jeff Morris Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was nearly made into a movie - one of the best scripts of 2008. The story works better as a novel - if you like epic humanitarian tales, this is worth a read.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

my dad got me the dvd of miss Sarajevo, but i haven't dared to watch it yet.

[Andie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really like Carter's perspective of Sarajevo -- he focuses on a distinct aspect of the Bosnian war

[Gary Paulson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was caught up in the story from the start. Trying to imagine why anyone who didn’t have to be in Sarajevo at that time would place themselves there in harms way. But as he is there, Carter allows us to share in his experiences thereby the experiences of the people of Sarajevo.

After reading the book, I want to see the 30 minute documentary, Miss Sarajevo. I found some excerpts on YouTube and watched the video of U2’s performance of the title song. But the documentary would be quite interesting.

Full Review: Dogberry Pages

[Fee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prolonged ending did not add anything to the book and felt self-indulgent. Otherwise very personal and honest, interesting and informative.

I went to Sarajevo shortly after reading this book. While I was there I wished I had Bill Carter's book with me because it was fascinating to see the landmarks he mentioned.

A Sarajevan recommended I read "The Cellist of Sarajevo" which I did when I came home. Now I want to go back again with BOTH books!

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story about losing love and finding a certain solace by delivering aid to Sarajevo during the height of the Bosnian war. How the author managed to live through this experience is phenomenal. Oh yeah, He also writes Bono, eventually meets U2 and convinces them to fund regular satellite transmissions that were broadcast during the ZooTV tour. Amazing read.

[Zach Church · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid memoir. Author weaves in a personal storyline to explain why he is in Sarajevo during the war, but doesn't overdo it. I was still very young, about 9-12, when the war was going on, so this book helped me wrap my head around the basics. The focus is on real Bosnians and not on politics.

[Tasha Bundy]

I have yet to finish this book, but plan to get going on it again soon. I highly recommend watching his film, Miss Sarajevo, which would be a good companion for the book.

[Mom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot. Probably better than I would have had I not known the author.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a must read for anyone who travels to the Balkans....or even those who don't.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometime reading a book is like renting a car, you pick economy and then get there and it is a Chevrolet Classic. A Chevrolet Classic? Classic? Chevrolet is nothing but incomplete passes and 30 yard punts. As you drive away, hoping to god the Classic doesn’t drop its tranny because Denver is damn cold, even in April and somewhere you can hear the U2 song Lemon. Well Bono shows up in this book to. First on the cover telling you it’s Dante’s Inferno for the MTV generation. Ughh Bono I know you’re IN the book, but lets not get crazy. Why don’t you have lunch with Biden and see if either of you listen to each other. Okay maybe that’s not fair. But hey I thought this book was about Bosnia. Instead it’s about Bill Carter. And the first half was written with a veil of mystery as Carter revealed piece by piece of himself. And it was interesting, but as you get past half way, you start to get a complete picture of who Bill Cater and you see that Bill Carter has a little of the Joe Biden in him. It’s at this same time that Bono comes on the scene and the book turns to self serving as if Carter is trying to justify what he did in Sarajevo to the people he was there with. That’s not to say what he did wasn’t worth while, just that he set off for Sarajevo for himself. And Carter admits it. Bottom Line: Bill Carter helped a lot of people, regardless of his reasons. I on the other hand am on the verge of getting my own Craftsman Truck team on Nascar 06 for PS2. I’m just not sure you need to read the book. (6/10)

[Bron · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book, enhanced by the fact that Alex and I stayed in Bosnia for a week last year. A fantastic insight into the siege of Sarajevo and a heartfelt tale of some of the most significant events of Bill Carter's life.

[Ginni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written account of Bill Carter's involvement in getting aide to Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. Along the way he becomes a filmmaker, and unites with the band U2 to make the documentary Miss Sarajevo.

[Paulo]

i want to read this!