Balkanized at Sunrise

Most of the events in the performance actually did happen. Many events are exaggerated for dramatic effect; some are completely fictional. Some names have been changed, others have not. In the current production approximately 80% is verbatim. By the time it becomes a feature film, maybe 20% will survive.

So, what really happened?

In 1997 I was introduced to Jakov Sedlar, Cultural Attaché of the Republic of Croatia in the US. Sedlar, a noted film and theater director, first hired my company to produce an animated map of Croatia for his travelogue. He also solicited my help on a biographical film about Croatia's then President, Franjo Tudjman.

Jakov Sedlar

Sedlar then asks me to write the official biography of Tudjman. I turned down the offer several times until I was guaranteed creative and editorial control.

That began my real-life adventure: trying to keep editorial control while being a guest -- an employee, in fact, of the Croatian government -- while attempting to uncover the truth of Tudjman's reign.

Poster from the film TUDJMAN

It involved interviews with officials from the Croatian government during the day; while at night surreptitiously meeting with opposition leaders and human rights activists.

I kept a journal during the entire trip. During the past five years I have written, and re-written the story in many forms. The result is "Balkanized at Sunrise", my attempt at making sense of it all.

Franjo Tudjman - video still from the interview

So, why did the government of Croatia hire a New York science-fiction writer to pen the biography of its President? Why didn't they just hire a PR firm, like they did with Waterman Associates?

The party then ruling Croatia, Tudjman's HDZ party, was involved in a massive public relations effort to refurbish the tarnished President's image, to assist Croatia's entry into the EU -- and keep Tudjman out of The Hague.

They wanted to co-opt an authentic American voice, to lend the biography more credibility. Instead, what happened was the author bit the hand that fed him: in fact, he was feasting on the hand, until December of '99 when Tudjman dies, before the author gets the chance to have dessert.

Was the book published?

No. Meddling began Before the manuscript was even finished, when Vitomir Miles Raguz, then advisor to the Croatian Mission to the UN, writes a "top secret" memo criticizing the book -- and sends it to top Croatian government officials.

Vitomir Miles Raguz

Miles Raguz

The author refuses all requests by Jakov to make changes to the book (titled "In Tito's Shadow"). Jakov even presented me with a letter ostensibly from the publisher of Harper-Collins in London. (No one there ever heard of Sedlar).

I still own the copyright. Interested publishers may This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Meanwhile, the Croatian Press has begun to report the story:

Sample for free or buy the ebook at Smashwords!

Free ebook sample at Scribd!

Kindle Edition at Amazon!

A portion of sales go to the creation of the Graphic Memoir Version:

See the samples for the graphic memoir version of BALKANIZED AT SUNRISE, with illustrations by BRETT WELDELE (THE SURROGATES).

Joe in Croatia’s Globus Magazine

“Who Saved Bosnia” Round Table Discussion

Dayton Peace Accords: Ten Years On

Presidents, War Crimes and the Paid Writer

Joe in Croatia's Novi List Newspaper

Next >