Beyond the Mountains of the Damned: The War Inside Kosovo

by Matthew McAllester

Winner, Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2002, Non-Fiction

The story of Pec―Kosovo's most destroyed city during the wars in Serbia

For every survivor of a crime, there is a criminal who forces his way into the victim's thoughts long after the act has been committed.

Reporters weren’t allowed into Kosovo during the war without the permission of the Yugoslavian government but Matthew McAllester went anyway. In Beyond the Mountains of the Damned he tells the story of Pec, Kosovo’s most destroyed city and the site of the earliest and worst atrocities of the war, through the lives of two men―one Serb and one Kosovar. They had known each other, and been neighbors for years before one visited tragedy on the other. With a journalist’s eye for detail McAllester asks the great question of war: What kind of men could devastate an entire city, killing whole families, and feel no sense of guilt? The answer lies in the culture of gangsterism and ethnic hatred that began with the collapse of Yugoslavia.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Gresa Halili · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am from Kosova, so I was very curious to find Roni, I ended up finding him online and telling him about the story. He had no idea there was a book written about the incident, asked me if I could give him the book. So when I went during the summer I did just that. A part of me wanted to spare him from the tragedies that happened to his family, but another part of me felt he should know. We are now friends and he's okay, he was taken in my family members and raised really well for anyone curious. He just recently graduated college and is now working.

I gave this book 4 stars because I was expecting something more in the content. More explanations, more stories depicting the tragedies. All in all the book was informative and well written.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two writers go to Kosovo in 1999 to find out what's going on. It's a story of ethnic cleansing, of Serbs versus Albanians.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never re-read books. This one I did, it struck such a chord with me the first time I read it, I needed to read it again. I had forgotten much of it but basically it is a heartbreaking story of an Albanian family trying to survive the war on Pec with tragic results. Enough said.

[Mirëdon Fusha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can compare, reading this book, to commencing peanut-eating! You can't stop!!! I enjoyed it and all that but somehow there's a bad vibe about it all...I don't know why!!!