War correspondent who helped shed light on war horrors in Bosnia publishes first book based on his experiences
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A war correspondent who helped shed light on the horrors of the war in Bosnian has published his first book based on his horrific experiences.
Tony Birtley has covered some of the biggest conflicts of the last four decades and has used those experiences to put together first novel, 'The Edge of Madness'.
Although fiction, the self published book centres on the war in Bosnia in the 1990s and in particular the besieged town of Srebrenica.
Tony - from Long Buckby but also known by many in the local area after playing for many years in the Rugby and District Football League - was the only journalist to reach the enclave and his video reports created enough international pressure for the UN to make it a safe haven. That lasted for two years until it was overrun by Serbs forces who then killed 8,000 men and buried them in mass graves. Birtley was wounded three times in Srebrenica, the last time seriously.
He describes the book as an emotional journey where he revisited some of the horrors of what happened in Bosnia. He made it fiction because although he witnessed much, he felt it was important to give a comprehensive perspective from all sides for what happened and why, to shed light on the causes and effects of the war and how ordinary people suffered.
The book has been released on Amazon as an ebook and a paperback.
The Kindle UK link is https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DLTD1Z1X/ref=sr_1_1
The paperback will be launched shortly.