In the summer of 1998, freelance journalist Greg Campbell got into a rental car in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, and drove across Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro into Kosovo, where Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic had recently begun stepping up an ongoing "ethnic cleansing" campaign against the ethnic Albanians who make up the majority of the region's population. Staying with local journalists--some of whom were also part of the underground Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)--Campbell was forced to confront the consequences of the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

But, he notes, what happened in that region is equally, if not ultimately, the consequence of the ineffective "protection" offered by NATO forces, including American troops. Drawing on his observations from a 1996 trip to Bosnia, Campbell elaborates upon the unwillingness of those in command of the implementation (later known as stabilization) forces, or SFOR--particularly the American commanders--to do anything more than the bare minimum required by the 1995 Dayton peace accord. Consequently, many Serbian war criminals enjoyed continued liberty, civil unrest continued to flare, and SFOR blamed local authorities for not solving the problem. Under those conditions, Campbell argues, it was inevitable that Kosovo would become another Bosnia.

The Road to Kosovo provides valuable background on the conflict between the Serbs and the Kosovars and NATO's track record in keeping the peace in the Balkans. It is also filled with chilling images of the chaos and terror of modern war. The book should be read by anyone hoping to understand why the 1999 intervention by NATO could take place--and how it might have to differ from earlier actions in order to be judged a success. --Ron Hogan


The Atlantic Monthly, Phoebe Lou Adams
His report is valuable ... for a brisk history of the centuries-old grudges haunting the region, and for descriptions of cranky mountainous country, vile roads, and local opinions--among them, and perhaps most important for future political considerations, the complaint of a frustrated peacekeeper: "I can't point a gun at someone and order him to stop hating his neighbor."


From Booklist
Campbell made two trips to the former Yugoslavia: the first in 1996 to Bosnia, the second in 1998 to Kosovo. His reporter's travelogue is interesting for its flavor of one man, alone, going after the story--most other reporters benefit from lavish support by their large news organizations. If there's safety in numbers in a bar or at a roadblock, Campbell only occasionally enjoyed it--once in the company of a wild man from Soldier of Fortune. On his own otherwise, Campbell describes the scenery of destruction and general dilapidation that the area presents, a miasma of misery underscored by the suspicious who-are-you "Balkan stare" of the inhabitants. Having been initiated to Balkan tension in 1996, he drove from Zagreb to Pristina last year just as the KLA was becoming known. He talked to (and his way past) armed men in outlying areas, in incidents that echoed the palpable fear of the ethnic Albanians preceding the eruption of the war last March. Trenchant, intrepid eyewitness observations that will take readers beyond the television images. Gilbert Taylor


Rocky Mountain News
"The narrative gives an excellent feel for the countryside and the people found in local bars, in living rooms, and on the streets. It is infused with quirky details...as if written by P.J. O'Rourke's more serious younger brother."


Booklist
"Trenchant, intrepid eyewitness observations that will take readers beyond the television images."


Book Description
Updated with two new chapters from his most recent 1999 trip to Kosovo, the author observes the on-the-ground impact of the peace agreement with Milosevic and the NATO peacekeepers' efforts to repair the region This first-person, on-the-road travel adventure takes us through one of the most dangerous and hate-filled regions on earth-the former republics of Yugoslavia-and into a land still reeling from months of brutal combat. Told in a fast-paced, rollicking style that's funny, sad, thoughtful, and at times horrifying, The Road to Kosovo shows us war and the struggle for peace through the eyes of a young journalist. Two new concluding chapters, written after the author's 1999 visit to Kosovo, provide a rare, on-the-ground assessment of the impact of the NATO peacekeeping mission and the peace agreement with Milosevic. The poignant scenes of death, confusion, and hopelessness that Campbell observes -not from media tents but from the homes of locals, in their bars, and on the side of the road-hearken ominously back to the first days of the peace mission in Bosnia. A vivid, uneasy picture emerges of a region resistant to lasting peace.


Book Info
Provides a first-person, on-the-road travel account of Kosovo and the war and struggle for peace through the eyes of a journalist. Softcover.


About the Author
Greg Campbell is the former editor of the Boulder Weekly, and has reported on Bosnia for the past several years. He lives in Longmont, Colorado.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This first-person, on-the-road travel account takes us through one of the most dangerous and hate-filled regions on earth--the former republics of Yugoslavia--and into a land still immersed in brutal combat, Kosovo. Part travel diary, part historical guide, The Road to Kosovo shows us war and the struggle for peace through the eyes of a young journalist forced by circumstances to travel to Kosovo the hard way, by car, after being turned down for a Yugoslavian visa.

Though the peace agreement reached in Dayton in 1995 supposedly ensures freedom of movement, it is soon apparent that the threat of death lurks around every twist and turn. As the same international peace brokers who fashioned the Dayton Accord scramble and fret over Kosovo, the author and his readers have the rare opportunity to assess the Accord's impact on the ground. Through poignantly reported vignettes throughout Bosnia--not in media tents but in the homes of locals, in their bars, and on the side of the road--an uneasy picture emerges. The region is, clearly, far from peace.

Told in a style that is sad, thoughtful, horrifying and, above all, human, The Road to Kosovo bridges an important gap between what we are told of Bosnia and what truly has and continues to occur there.

Greg Campbell is a freelance journalist and former editor of the Boulder Weekly. He reported a series of articles from Sarajevo just after the Dayton Accord. He lives in Longmont, CO.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

The Road to Kosovo reminds us of what it is all too often easy to forget - that there are real people behind the headlines we read from the Balkans. More importantly, as the international community grapples with yet another flash point with Kosovo, it provides a sobering look at what foreign policy leaders have constantly called a success, the peace mission in Bosnia. As we once again consider sending American soldiers into harm's way to keep peace in Kosovo, this book provides the needed critical analysis of that "success," an analysis that should be a sobering wake-up call to anyone who thinks we succeeded in bringing peace to Bosnia. -- (Lt. Col. Robert K. Brown, USAR (ret)editor/publisher, Soldier of Fortune Magazine) — Robert K. Brown

Joel Dyer

Reading The Road to Kosovo is like riding shotgun with Campbell as he connects the dots on his map of the former Yugoslavia. With passion and clarity, he paints a portrait of a decaying world where its hard to tell the good from the bad and where shadowy characters, real and imagined, move like ghosts amidst the ruins of ethnic clensing. Most importantly, Campbell shows the Dayton Peace Accord to be as impotent as a restraining order on a stalker, an insight that raises the only question that seems to matter in this land of blood and sorrow: When will the bombs begin to fall...again? — Author of Harvest of Rage and The Perpetual Prisoner Machine)

Joel Dyer