[I_Like_Plants]

Zlata's Diary, A Child's Life in Sarajevo, ISBN 0-590-48792-2 Scholastic Book Services.

I found this in a local coffee shop, it's a Book Crossing book with a sticker saying to take it home, read it, go to the site and report that I've found it then "return it to the wild" which I will do. And will put a few books of my own out there too!

This is a diary by a girl about 10 years old when it starts, who lives with her rather wealthy parents in Sarajevo. Very very good reading, and authenticated and real (there are some doubts about that whole Anne Frank thing). Interesting points:

Kids are more educated and literate over there, at least if they have engineers and doctors etc for parents and relatives.

Electricity went out and was very chancy, so was water, gas, etc.

Winter was a real PITA, and wood was very hard to get - good thing to live in relative wealth with lots of furniture to burn. All the trees downtown were cut down, and sold.

UNICEF and other org's food packages made the difference - if it weren't for them, Zlata would have been talking about how good her cat Cici tasted, rather than how cute she was.

Social networking saved the day - Zlata lived in a very small-town, interrelated society, it seemed like everyone knew everyone. There was a lot of networking and sharing.

People started to garden, and edible plants and veggies replaced all the ornimental ones.

Pigeons, which were apparently numerous in Sarajevo, disappeared. Either people ate 'em or there were no longer lots of bread crumbs etc for them to live on, or both.

People had to walk somewhere, it wasn't said so maybe it was a well or lake or canal or something, to get water. People rigged up all kinds of weird wagons to do this with.

The aggressors and snipers were sadistic early in the game, shooting kids, women, picking out one guy in a birthday party and killing him, etc.

Not discussed in the book but Tito had held the country together for some amazing amount of time, like since WWII. When he died, everyone suddenly remembered what nationality they were and started to carve their own territory out for themselves. Could that happen here in the US if the shit hits the fan?

I think reading about how people lived in wartime seiges, depressions, epidemics, etc could be valuable for getting an idea of what to expect if we experience a sudden crash.

[dragonfly]

I read this book when I was in fifth grade, and I really liked it. I found it amazing how they had to dodge snipers all the time.

As for national balkanization in the US, I can very much see it happening, although it might be more along racial and geographic lines than nationality.

As one example, many Mexican intellectuals hail the mass influx of Mexican immigrants into the US as a "Reconquista", a rightful invasion to re-claim what is theirs. Obviously, this unsettles many Americas in the Southwest, so that can't be good for unity.