Status Updates From Black Lamb and Grey Falcon:...

True to form, Christopher Hitchens spends a lengthy forward trying to prove he’s smarter than West lmao

Sarajevo 8

Back at the house of the Bulbul for what sounds like a very lovely dinner party before leaving Bosnia for good. The banker from earlier brings up a great point about the fact that the Turks and Austrians, alike, have ransacked Bosnia of its own culture so that most of what remains to marvel upon is Turkish or Austrian. Sad.

Yezero

Lots of thoughts on this Austrian lady. I'm falling asleep on my flight.

Yaitse (Jajce) 3

Talking about some drama over the (supposedly) inaccurate way with which Chabrinovitch's father was painted by writers during that time period. It did seem like he, the father, sucked, but I guess he wasn't a spy. He was a Serbian nationalist? Anyway, back at the Mithras temple. I should look this up.

Yaitse (Jajce) 2

Meeting a local dentist and her husband. She is the oldest sister of Chabrinovitch, one of the conspirators in the plot to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand and his wife. A very passionate woman and I find myself resonating with her family dynamics.

Yaitse (Jajce) 1

New town unlocked. Sounds beautiful and charming. More musing on its peoples and its history. Would be interesting to learn more about its role in the conflicts between the Turks and European groups interested in the region.

Travnik

Dinner with a Sephardic Jewish couple at their home. The author really loves Sephardic folks. Another snowy, calm winter evening. Speculations about the local Muslims, but not as racist as it seems like she has been. I am curious about the spread of Islam through the Balkans, and if it really was so local to Bosnia.

Treboviche

A lovely escape into the country land around Sarajevo. Sounds serene and beautiful and quiet and cozy. I am sure it has changed dramatically. Great pondering on outside perception of Yugoslavia and the fact that the World War was inevitable, at least for South Slavs craving independence.

Ilidzhe

Curious if this village still exists as a time capsule for when the Turks, and then the Austrians, ruled their land. Sounded very interesting. A good way to showcase the differences between the Bosnian culture and that which their oppressors attempted to force on them.

Sarajevo 7

All about the post-assassination trials and the deaths of the co-conspirators. She touches briefly on WWI, acknowledging that it had to happen for the Balkans to claim independence from Austria - even if it did result in tragedy for the West. I should like to see this gravesite.

Sarajevo 6

Immediate aftermath of Franz Ferdinand's assassination. The story of his funeral and burial is pretty interesting. The author's musings on the "whodunnit" are good. It really seems like everything was stacked against Princip.

Sarajevo 5

Incredible personal histories of both Franz Ferdinand and Gavrilo Princip. As Americans, I feel like we don't receive a sufficient education on WWI simply because we didn't play as big a role. I can't believe Balkan nationalism was the catalyst for "The Great War", we never learned about the politics of it all in school.

Sarajevo 4

Lots of reflection here. I'm mostly fascinated by the feminism she seems to have - at least white feminism... because sometimes she's weird about Muslim women. I suppose this is post-suffrage in the U.S., so timing makes sense, but her musings on it are interesting. I like her observations of the Bosnian highland women, she seems to admire them greatly.