Then They Started Shooting: Growing Up in Wartime Bosnia

Compelling stories of Serbian and Muslim children who came of age during the Bosnian wars of the 1990s come together in an examination of how the war has affected them and an analysis of the implications of wartime experiences for children's lives.

Review :
"Then They Started Shooting: Growing Up in Wartime Bosnia" is an account that beautifully illustrates the way in which people (in this case children) actively engage with the experience of war--a particular kind of moral problem--and how the meanings they attach to it shape their perceptions of themselves and their communities, and ultimately the legacy of the war itself...A highly original work.--Derek Summerfield"Times Literary Supplement" (02/03/2006) Children are often victims of war and political violence throughout the world, yet the impact on them is complex, according to Cambridge child psychiatrist and senior research associate Jones. For this timely book, Jones draws on her original research in the Balkans during the Bosnian crisis of the 1990s, including symptom checklists for more than 300 youth and personal encounters with 40 children...A thought-provoking and readable work.--Antoinette Brinkman"Library Journal" (02/01/2005) This book focuses on the traumatic psychological effects of war on children two years after the conflict in the Balkans. The findings are noteworthy. The author discovered that, in fact, children's ability to cope is greater than expected, and that the majority of these children emerged from the war free from ill effects...For those in the CF who have served in the Balkans, a work of this nature is groundbreaking, informative, and pivotal in our understanding of the effects of war on children. It broadens our traditional focus in the Balkans of mitigating the physical hardships through donations of clothes or money, or through building and repairing schools. It is an interesting read.--Captain J.K. Vintar "Canadian Army Journal " In this absorbing study, Jones finds that Bosnian children who distanced themselves from the war felt psychologically more comfortable than those who tried to make sense of things--a finding that Jones attributes in part to their lack of direct participation in the conflict...The book offers new insights into Bosnian Serb-Muslim relations through the eyes of children and addresses perennial issues of war, trauma and prejudice. Out of the horror of human cruelty in the Bosnian war comes a bright note. Jones, a child psychiatrist, studied a cluster of adolescents from two Bosnian towns--one largely Muslim, the other Serb--to see how deep and psychologically damaging the trauma of war had been. In 1996 and 1997, she socialized with and interviewed at length about 40 children in Gorazde and Foca and then returned in 2002 to follow up. The book begins with excruciating accounts of what these children saw and suffered, then turns to the way, as adolescents, they understood these events, and concludes with an assessment of the lasting effects. The bright note is that the overwhelming majority of these young people, now in their teens, were 'well'--that is, without noticeable psychological pathologies. The sadder note is that most had formed attitudes toward society, politics, and, in particular, the other ethnic group that were fostered by the first war and will be fuel if there is another.