The recent atrocities in Bosnia-Herzegovina have stunned people throughout the world. With Holocaust memories
still painfully vivid, a question haunts us: how is this savagery possible? Michael A. Sells answers by demonstrating
that the Bosnian conflict is not simply a civil war or a feud of age-old adversaries. It is, he says, a systematic
campaign of genocide and a Christian holy war spurred by religious mythologies. This passionate yet reasoned book
examines how religious stereotyping--in popular and official discourse--has fueled Serbian and Croatian ethnic
hatreds. Sells, who is himself Serbian American, traces the cultural logic of genocide to the manipulation by Serb
nationalists of the symbolism of Christ's death, in which Muslims are "Christ-killers" and Judases who
must be mercilessly destroyed. He shows how "Christoslavic" religious nationalism became a central part
of Croat and Serbian politics, pointing out that intellectuals and clergy were key instruments in assimilating
extreme religious and political ideas. Sells also elucidates the ways that Western policy makers have rewarded
the perpetrators of the genocide and punished the victims. He concludes with a discussion of how the multireligious
nature of Bosnian society has been a bridge between Christendom and Islam, symbolized by the now-destroyed bridge
at Mostar. Drawing on historical documents, unpublished United Nations reports, articles from Serbian and Bosnian
media, personal contacts in the region, and Internet postings, Sells reveals the central role played by religious
mythology in the Bosnian tragedy. In addition, he makes clear how much is at stake for the entire world in the
struggle to preserve Bosnia's existence as a multireligious society