This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace
Review by Linda Kozlowski
Altar Magazine
March 2005

"In every situation there are good people" (Kristina). Swanee Hunt's, This Was Not Our War, proves that statement to be so over and over again. Twenty six Bosnian women have shared their war stories with the author and, although their suffering and loss is clearly defined, it is their courage, strength, and unselfish dedication in working to heal others that is the main point of the story. The reader is reminded often by the voices on the page that this was not a religious war, but one of corrupt, greedy politicians looking to gain power. History seems to have repeated itself in another time and place. "War is madness, where everything abnormal becomes normal" (Alma). The word genocide has been replaced by the term "ethnic cleansing" and neighbor killing neighbor has become an everyday occurrence. Hunt proclaims in her introduction that "we repeatedly enter war without adequate intelligence." Placing blame for these twenty six women, from all social and religious backgrounds, seems secondary to working to bring peace. Hunt's written conversations with the Bosnian women reveal their need to rebuild and recapture what they once knew to be home. Photos by Tarik Samarah of the twenty six women end the book, adding to the incredible visual the reader has already received from Hunt's writing.