'The Impossible Country

This travelogue takes readers through Zagreb, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Kosovo in 1991.

Published in 1994, The Impossible Country: A Journey Through the Last Days of Yugoslavia, by Brian Hall, was written to describe the sentiments harbored by the various populations of the former Yugoslavia and to attempt to explain to the befuddled Westerner what all of the fuss was about between certain ethnic groups. While not all may become clear immediately, this easy-to-read (if unexpectedly dense) small volume is a good starter for anyone who wants to brush up on their Yugoslav political history.

The book openly pays homage to Rebecca West, whose Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is a classic travelogue about one woman's travels through the Balkan region during the 1930s. Hall uses individuals to illustrate broad feelings about ethnicity, nationality, history, and religion, much like West. However, Hall's more journalistic turns of phrase means that his observations do not ramble on without end. Hall includes passages and narration meaningfully, punctuating each event with significant imagery or dialogue.

Hall does not seek to come to conclusions about the Yugoslav situation. Instead, the questions he poses are questions that some individuals with whom he speaks have themselves. In asking these questions, the complexity of Balkan issues is revealed to the reader. The problems ultimately arise from subjectivity - how one ethnic or religious group sees itself as opposed to how it sees another ethnic or relgious group dictates action and reaction, no matter what the objective truth (or even history) might say.