This Way To Heaven

by Tom Foley

American soldier Robert Jackson joined the army to earn tuition for college; he wanted only to settle down with his high school sweetheart and start a family. He came to Bosnia to help the U.N. forces keep the peace -- only to find that there was no peace to keep. The U.N. arms embargo has left the Muslims defenseless to attacks by Serbs, the Muslim-Croat alliance is shaky at best, and the Serbs are slowly but surely "cleansing" the town of Bosia of Muslims and Croats -- leaving a horrifying death-toll in their wake. Frustrated by his inability to help the Bosnian people, Jackson begins running guns with a band of Muslim students. He is soon caught by the army, and runs off with his young cohorts to avoid standing trial -- losing forever his dreams of peace and prosperity with his love.

"Colonel" Samuel West is sent to Jackson by a trusted benefactor with a mission that West says could "end the war." He needs Jackson to lead him through dangerous northern territory -- and that's where their hellish adventure begins. Stopping for supplies in the wrong town at the wrong time leaves Jackson and West prisoners of the Serbian Chetniks, beginning them on a harrowing journey that leads through the most devastated towns, into a Serbian concentration camp, through the falling city of Jacje, and finally, Jackson hopes, to freedom at the end of a long and dangerous refugee trail.

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 2000

Reviews

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helped me understand the Bosnian conflict much better.

[Peggy Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know Tom C. Foley had written a novel about the war in Yugoslavia. I did know his coverage (1991 - 1995) of it for the People's World was the difference between what I understood and friends I genuinely respected then and still do, did not. I'm ordering it. I also recommend rethinking what one thought at the time, especially if one were 1)a USA citizen 2) trusted oneself as a critically thinking leftist 3)feminist internationalist 4) not determined to differentiate Stalin from Hitler.

[Ryan Hornish · Rating 4 out of 5]

He went through hell and back was in concentration camps and firefights, even meeting new people that became friends and family but he knew what he stood for and he knew no woman could replace his Maria, what a guy.