The Fall of Milosevic: The October 5th Revolution

by Dragan Bujosevic, Ivan Radovanović

Told for the first time, the riveting story of how common people - miners, cooks, former soldiers - shook off the intimidation of Serbian strongman Slobadan Milosevic and overthrew, peacefully, his tyrannical regime. Based on numerous interviews with participants, from the man in the street to top officials in the Serbian regime, The Fall of Milosevic recounts the exhilaration, fear and chaos of a population rising in opposition to a tyrant, the 'Butcher of the Balkans'. As the people gather in protest, behind the scenes in the pillars of Milosevic's regime crumble as politicians, military officers, and the police desert a leader no longer legitimate in the eyes of the people. This is the story of individuals facing down fear and rising up for democracy.

190 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[atom_box Evan G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wait, there's only one review?

Short! You can probably read it in a few sittings. The details are good and bad. Tough if you have zero prior knowledge - but if you read much about the Yugoslavian wars in the 90s you will have an easier time. You will hear many specific places and fifty or more people's names. The authors put you in the room where it happened.

I am a little surprised that they got so many people to candidly go on the record about these things.

You might shiver as you compare this to your own western country and find it hard to believe this all happened or that our other western countries are flirting with this sort of thing.

If you are trying to make sense of backsliding democracies, and what people do about it, this is a very interesting history of a very close-to-home kind of country. Sits well next to IRA history, Russian spy stuff — even WWII resistance against the Nazis. Then, to take away the passivity of just consuming the terror of rooting out your country's dictator, chase this with a how-to manual, like the Yes Men's Beautiful Trouble or Erica Chenoweth's Why Civil Resistance Works.

[Jared Gulian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good to get the detail of what happened on 5 October 2000 in Belgrade. Based on interviews of people who were there, it offers different perspectives from the various hotspots on the day (Parliament, Radio Television Serbia building, etc). There was something in the narrative that felt a bit jumbled or unpolished. It was confusing at times. Almost like, in the rush to get all the interviews in and all the facts down, the story got lost from time to time.