In 1996, Joe Sacco won the American Book Award for his groundbreaking work Palestine, a first-person journalistic account of the situation in the occupied territories, told in comics form. Naseer H. Aruri, Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, wrote, "Sacco brilliantly and poignantly captures the essence of life under a repressive and prolonged occupation. Each page is equivalent to an essay on one of the many aspects of the occupation. His material is presented with a great deal of skill, insight and compassion." Entertainment Weekly wrote, "It figures that one of the first books to make sense of this mess would be a comic book."

SAFE AREA GORAZDE is the long-awaited follow-up to Palestine, a 240-page look at war in the former Yugoslavia. Sacco spent four months in Bosnia in 1995-1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories that are rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war. Sacco spent four weeks in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity or running water. "Harrowing and bleakly humorous, Sacco's account of life during the Balkan conflict is a timeless portrait of ordinary people caught in desperate circumstances. It's also a work of genius in an unlikely genre."
- The Utne Reader

<-- Back to Artist's Card