Safe Area Goražde

Summary

Safe Area Goražde is Joe Sacco’s graphic reportage about the Bosnian War, focusing on the town of Goražde, which was declared a UN 'safe area' but suffered isolation, deprivation, and shelling throughout the conflict. Based on interviews conducted in the late 1990s, Sacco reconstructs the experiences of survivors, weaving together their testimonies with his own observations as a visiting journalist. The book documents both the brutality of ethnic cleansing and the resilience of ordinary people under siege. Sacco’s style is dense and immersive, capturing the geography of destruction, the texture of daily life in war, and the humanity of individuals caught in geopolitical violence. Safe Area Goražde remains one of the most powerful works of war journalism in comics, blending firsthand accounts with historical context to expose the failures of international protection and the endurance of those trapped in conflict.