the book, Izetbegović’s Sjećanja rather directly shows the harsh times the people of
Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced, the people whom Meša Selimović confirms
to have the fate of being at a crossroads of worlds, to lastly die a slow death on the
border between peoples and thus be in everyone’s way.

The narrative magic of Alija Izetbegović’s Sjećanja hides in the fact that the author
lacked any narrative mission apart from closely and faithfully speaking about the
events that had taken place in the years of the great exchange of times, (5) an exchange
that addressed the memorable and revolutionary decade from 1990 to 2000. Hence,
Sjećanja appears as an uncommon collection of uncommon memories from times
that were anything but idle. In Sjećanja, the author is not merely a chronicler, literary
author, writer, or one who follows the exchange of times from his exclusive idleness
and inclination from somewhere out there. On the contrary, the author of Sjećanja
is in the midst of the scene with many and carries on his shoulders the burden of
the huge political responsibility of a political headman. Although he is not the only
one creating the scene, he suffers the blows of so-called interesting times. A cruel
war rages with genocide, one that savagely persecutes the population. The Bosnia
and Herzegovina as it used to be known disappeared during its precursory almost
millennial trajectory.

An undoubtedly powerful stamp is also made on Sjećanja by virtue of the fact
that Alija Izetbegović had been the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina or a Presidency member for quite a while (1990 – 2000) and had also been the indisputable
political leader of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosniaks (1990 – 2003). I point this
out namely because all too often political vocabulary and political discourse can
be terribly boring. However, Alija Izetbegović neither intertwines in or dominates
his Sjećanja with bland political discourse. Quite conversely, Sjećanja offers a close
picture of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Bosnian War
from 1992-1995 represents an intense time akin to a conflagration that consumes
everything including itself. This time was when Alija Izetbegović, together with the
people and patriots of this country, lived in every sense of the word through as much
as someone else would in 50 or a 100 years.

The other of Sjećanja read smoothly and dynamically as they describe a life that
was rushing by and the everyday life of a war (1992 – 1995) with many deaths through
killing and executions, besieged towns, constant shelling and massacres, blocked
districts, halted convoys, refugees and expelled persons received, ethnic cleansings,

(5) For more about this famous Franciscan phrase (i.e., the great exchange of times), see Baltić, J. (1991).
Godišnjak od dogadjaja i promine vrimena u Bosni 1754. – 1882. Veselin Masleša.