A review by gracefullypunk
The Fall of Yugoslavia by Misha Glenny

5.0

Far and away the best book I've read on the breakup of Yugoslavia -- and it really is about the actual *breakup*. Save for an epilogue, the book ends in 1993. This means that much of the focus is on what most of the world ignores, the war between Serbia and Croatia. It also means that, when the focus turns to Bosnia, there's less about Sarajevo and, again except for the epilogue, nothing about Srebrenica. Glenny puts events in their historical AND political context, pointing out the failings of the international system and the way international actors were manipulated. Finally, although he's not a Serb apologist, he avoids repeating the accepted story, that of the Serbs being evil, the Muslims being innocent victims, and the Croats not even playing the part.