Sally Becker

Sally Becker partly redeemed the good name of Western Europe by the heroic work that she carried out in Bosnia at the height of the war in the early 1990s, fought mainly against defenceless civilians. She brushed aside often cold-hearted international bureaucrats and soldiers from the United Nations to bring relief to wounded and hungry victims of a brutal conflict. The bravery and determination of this unassuming English woman earned her the epithet of the ‘Angel of Mostar’. Her memoir of her years delivering aid and helping children in Bosnia and later Kosovo has many of the ingredients of a classic war memoir. She displays impressive narrative skills and powers of description, revealing the depths human beings could sink to and the ability of bureaucracies to insulate themselves from horrors they were supposedly meant to overcome. Her vivid and often beautifully-told memoir is sure to keep alive memories of a low-point in the European story and perhaps motivate others to try and mitigate the effects of wars in which civilians find themselves the chief victims.

 

Tom Gallagher

24 February 2012

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Tom Gallagher is Professor of the Study of Ethnic Conflict and Peace in the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in northern England.