Overview

While the specificities of individual wars vary, they share a ubiquitous aftermath: the task of finding and identifying the ""disappeared."" The Bosnian war of the early 1990s that destroyed the sovereign state of Yugoslavia is no exception. In Working in the Killing Fields: Forensic Science in Bosnia, Howard Ball focuses on the recent development of forensic science technology and on the work of forensic professionals in Bosnia. The book offers a distinctive approach to war and its aftermath because it balances examination of complex features of new scientific forensic technology with insights into the lives of the men and women from around the globe who are tasked with finding and excavating bodies and conducting pathological examinations, along with explaining the cause of death to both international court criminal prosecutors and surviving families of the victims. Ball considers the physical dangers these professionals regularly confront while performing their site excavations, as well as the emotional pain, including PTSD, they contend with during their time in Bosnia and after they leave the killing fields.

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9781612347189

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Reviews

Howard Ball's erudite overview of the history behind [the Balkans] conflict and the responses of the forensic and psychosocial communities . . . are fascinating and in some ways diverse. . . . It behooves us all to look at the lessons and issues set out in works such as this and to try and slow down, and ultimately halt, what would seem to be the consequences of the worst of humankind. --Margaret Cox, president of Inforce Foundation and a former professor at the Cranfield Forensic Centre, Cranfield University --Margaret Cox (10/15/2014)

An excellent and accurate book that tells the story about the role of forensic scientists in the recovery and identification effort in the former Yugoslavia. It is well researched and thorough. --Eric Bartelink, associate professor of physical anthropology and director of the California State University-Chico Human Identification Laboratory-- (10/15/2014) Howard Ball's erudite overview of the history behind [the Balkans] conflict and the responses of the forensic and psychosocial communities . . . are fascinating and in some ways diverse. . . . It behooves us all to look at the lessons and issues set out in works such as this and to try and slow down, and ultimately halt, what would seem to be the consequences of the worst of humankind. --Margaret Cox, president of Inforce Foundation and a former professor at the Cranfield Forensic Centre, Cranfield University-- (10/15/2014) Highly recommended for students of human rights politics and forensic sciences. --P. G. Conway, CHOICE-- (03/01/2016)

Author Information

Howard Ball is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Vermont. He is the author of more than thirty books, including At Liberty to Die; Genocide; and Bush, the Detainees, and the Constitution.

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