An updated edition in paperback of the life of Slobodan Milosevic with a new Introduction including information on his trial at The Hague.
Abbreviations vii
Chronology ix
Preface xv
Introduction 1
1. The Young Milosevic and the Yugoslavia He Destroyed 11
2. The Rise of Milosevic 39
3. Milosevic Takes Kosovo 65
4. A New Tito? 95
5. All Serbs in One State 108
6. Milosevic at War 140
7. Milosevic and the Politics of Power 169
8. Man of Peace 195
9. Dayton 223
10. Milosevic Loses Kosovo 262
11. War Criminal 318
12. The End 329
Afterword 363
Notes 379
Bibliography 413
Index 423
Louis Sell is a retired Foreign Service Officer who served twenty-eight years with the U.S. Department of State. He spent eight years in the former Yugoslavia with both the Department of State and non-governmental organizations. From 1995–1996 he served as Political Deputy to the first High Representative for Bosnian Peace Implementation. In that capacity, Sell attended the Dayton Peace Conference and participated in the first year of implementation of the Dayton accords. In 2000 he served as Kosovo Director of the International Crisis Group. He currently teaches at the University of Maine at Farmington.
"Sell has produced a book which will be valued by students of Yugoslavia and will be an excellent introduction to those not yet familiar with that country's tragic destruction." Richard Crampton, Times Literary Supplement "[T]he most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the war so far published in English. [Sell] is fair-minded and keeps his diplomatic cool until the end, when with justice he calls Mr. Milosevic 'an ugly killer' who even now denies the fact of horrendous crimes, and his own responsibility for them." The Economist "More than a biography, this book provides a compact, coherent review of the sad drama that occupied so much of the West's attention in the 1990s." Foreign Affairs "[C]ompelling... Sell's account, based on both the public record and interviews with many of the principals as well as his personal experiences, offers an impressive yield of telling insights and revealing anecdotes." Andrew Nagorski, Washington Post Book World "Louis Sell brings to his fascinating study of the Serbian tyrant a deep experience in the Balkans, an authority based on his own participation in some of the events he describes, and a keen analytical eye. This is a first-rate book."--Warren Zimmermann, United States Ambassador to Yugoslavia, 1989-1992 "A welcome biography of the 'Butcher of the Balkans' [and] ... an important contribution to the literature surrounding the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the ethnic wars that followed."--Kirkus Reviews "Sell is authoritative on Milosevic's fall from power... [He] clearly knows the territory."--Mary H. Meier, Boston Globe "More than a biography, this book provides a compact, coherent review of the sad drama that occupied so much of the West's attention in the 1990s."--Foreign Affairs "The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic ... makes this political biography especially timely... [V]aluable for its background on the current trial and coverage of recent history of a troubled region. Recommended for most libraries."--Library Journal "Sell ... offer[s] a shrewd assessment of the former dictator."--Dusko Doder, The Nation "[C]ompelling... Sell's account, based on both the public record and interviews with many of the principals as well as his personal experiences, offers an impressive yield of telling insights and revealing anecdotes."--Andrew Nagorski, Washington Post Book World "[T]horough."--Tim Judah, The New York Review of Books "Sell's book is certainly the most comprehensive and up-to-date on both Milosevic and, as his subtitle suggests, the destruction of Yugoslavia. It is detailed and well sourced ... Sell's hefty tome will be a major work of reference for many years to come."--Tim Judah, Survival "Sell, a former U.S. foreign service officer with many years of service in the Balkans, maintains the detached, objective style that has become appropriate for the anatomization of a criminal... [Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia] is the better for being written by someone with an educated sympathy for both the Serbs and, as they were once known, the Yugoslavs... A strikingly useful aspect of this book is the detail it gives, often at first hand, about the shameful vacillations--to put it no higher--of the Western mediators."--Christopher Hitchens, Wilson Quarterly "Louis Sell's study is a ... substantial book... His is the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the war so far published in English. He is fair-minded and keeps his diplomatic cool until the end, when with justice he calls Mr. Milosevic 'an ugly killer' who even now denies the fact of horrendous crimes, and his own responsibility for them."--The Economist "[A] detailed account of events ..."--Woodford McClellan, The Washington Times "The very readable text does a good job of piecing together memoirs and other accounts published in Serbo-Croatian, which are interspersed with colorful and, occasionally, valuable anecdotes from Sell's own diplomatic activities... [A] book well worth reading."--C. Ingrao, Choice "[R]iveting..."--Ian Traynor, The Guardian "The great strength of Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia is that it is written with internal as well as external knowledge. Sell's service as a diplomat makes him familiar with the external factors, and has given him contact with sources of information denied to the routine enquirer... Sell adds his extensive internal knowledge of Yugoslavia, a knowledge gained in the service of NGOs as well as the US State Department. This and his fluency in Serbo-Croat, gave him, as his footnotes show, access to publications and personalities not always available to those imposing policy from without. It is this combination which enables Sell to tell us a good deal not only about the murderer and his wife, but also about their victim, Yugoslavia... Sell has produced a book which will be valued by students of Yugoslavia and will be an excellent introduction to those not yet familiar with that country's tragic destruction."--Richard Crampton, Times Literary Supplement "The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, which began in February, makes this political biography especially timely."--Foreign Policy Association "[A] timely book and an important contribution to the literature on the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the subsequent disastrous ethnic wars that preoccupied the West during the 1990s."--Foreign Service Journal "[A] useful and also highly readable addition to our ever-growing shelf of scholarly studies... [An] excellent book."--Dennison Rusinow, Slavic Review "More than a biography, SlobobanMilosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia offers a readable account of both the domestic Yugoslav side of the country's collapse and the history and consequences of international interventions in the wars in Slovenia and Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo... [W]ell written..."--Julie Mertus, Political Science Quarterly "[E]xcellent... [A]nalytical... [S]ell gives the reader more information about the deeper causes of Yugoslavia's demise within the broader context of the end of the Cold War."--Christopher Cviic, The Tablet "Louis Sell ... does an excellent job of melding the firsthand experience of diplomats with background research to create a compelling picture of Milosevic and the horrors that he eventually wrought (although far from single-handedly)." --Cal Clark, Perspectives on Political Science "Sell's book, by using a tone that does not pretend definitively to 'explain' either the character of Milosevic or the sensitive and rapidly transforming political landscape of the former Yugoslavia, offers his readers the opportunity to reflect again on a period and a person we are not likely to grasp fully for a long time to come."--Holly Case, Slovene Studies "[T]his is a good book written by a knowledgeable observer... Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia should be of more than passing interest, valuable to anyone seeking further insights into a complex, crucial and wholly fascinating topic."--Dennis Reinhartz, Holocaust and Genocide Studies "[T]his book provides interesting reading and serves very well as an insider's observation and a political portrayal of Milosevic."--Kari M. Osland, Journal of Peace Research "Sell provides an excellent and readable summary of Milosevic's failed attempt to become a new Tito as head of all Yugoslavia... The book is well written, and Sell provides interesting details about the actions of US diplomats, in particular, throughout the Yugoslav crises and wars."-- Robert M. Hayden, The International History Review
"Sell has produced a book which will be valued by students of Yugoslavia and will be an excellent introduction to those not yet familiar with that country's tragic destruction." Richard Crampton, Times Literary Supplement "[T]he most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the war so far published in English. [Sell] is fair-minded and keeps his diplomatic cool until the end, when with justice he calls Mr. Milosevic 'an ugly killer' who even now denies the fact of horrendous crimes, and his own responsibility for them." The Economist "More than a biography, this book provides a compact, coherent review of the sad drama that occupied so much of the West's attention in the 1990s." Foreign Affairs "[C]ompelling... Sell's account, based on both the public record and interviews with many of the principals as well as his personal experiences, offers an impressive yield of telling insights and revealing anecdotes." Andrew Nagorski, Washington Post Book World "Louis Sell brings to his fascinating study of the Serbian tyrant a deep experience in the Balkans, an authority based on his own participation in some of the events he describes, and a keen analytical eye. This is a first-rate book."--Warren Zimmermann, United States Ambassador to Yugoslavia, 1989-1992 "A welcome biography of the 'Butcher of the Balkans' [and] ... an important contribution to the literature surrounding the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the ethnic wars that followed."--Kirkus Reviews "Sell is authoritative on Milosevic's fall from power... [He] clearly knows the territory."--Mary H. Meier, Boston Globe "More than a biography, this book provides a compact, coherent review of the sad drama that occupied so much of the West's attention in the 1990s."--Foreign Affairs "The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic ... makes this political biography especially timely... [V]aluable for its background on the current trial and coverage of recent history of a troubled region. Recommended for most libraries."--Library Journal "Sell ... offer[s] a shrewd assessment of the former dictator."--Dusko Doder, The Nation "[C]ompelling... Sell's account, based on both the public record and interviews with many of the principals as well as his personal experiences, offers an impressive yield of telling insights and revealing anecdotes."--Andrew Nagorski, Washington Post Book World "[T]horough."--Tim Judah, The New York Review of Books "Sell's book is certainly the most comprehensive and up-to-date on both Milosevic and, as his subtitle suggests, the destruction of Yugoslavia. It is detailed and well sourced ... Sell's hefty tome will be a major work of reference for many years to come."--Tim Judah, Survival "Sell, a former U.S. foreign service officer with many years of service in the Balkans, maintains the detached, objective style that has become appropriate for the anatomization of a criminal... [Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia] is the better for being written by someone with an educated sympathy for both the Serbs and, as they were once known, the Yugoslavs... A strikingly useful aspect of this book is the detail it gives, often at first hand, about the shameful vacillations--to put it no higher--of the Western mediators."--Christopher Hitchens, Wilson Quarterly "Louis Sell's study is a ... substantial book... His is the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the war so far published in English. He is fair-minded and keeps his diplomatic cool until the end, when with justice he calls Mr. Milosevic 'an ugly killer' who even now denies the fact of horrendous crimes, and his own responsibility for them."--The Economist "[A] detailed account of events ..."--Woodford McClellan, The Washington Times "The very readable text does a good job of piecing together memoirs and other accounts published in Serbo-Croatian, which are interspersed with colorful and, occasionally, valuable anecdotes from Sell's own diplomatic activities... [A] book well worth reading."--C. Ingrao, Choice "[R]iveting..."--Ian Traynor, The Guardian "The great strength of Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia is that it is written with internal as well as external knowledge. Sell's service as a diplomat makes him familiar with the external factors, and has given him contact with sources of information denied to the routine enquirer... Sell adds his extensive internal knowledge of Yugoslavia, a knowledge gained in the service of NGOs as well as the US State Department. This and his fluency in Serbo-Croat, gave him, as his footnotes show, access to publications and personalities not always available to those imposing policy from without. It is this combination which enables Sell to tell us a good deal not only about the murderer and his wife, but also about their victim, Yugoslavia... Sell has produced a book which will be valued by students of Yugoslavia and will be an excellent introduction to those not yet familiar with that country's tragic destruction."--Richard Crampton, Times Literary Supplement "The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, which began in February, makes this political biography especially timely."--Foreign Policy Association "[A] timely book and an important contribution to the literature on the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the subsequent disastrous ethnic wars that preoccupied the West during the 1990s."--Foreign Service Journal "[A] useful and also highly readable addition to our ever-growing shelf of scholarly studies... [An] excellent book."--Dennison Rusinow, Slavic Review "More than a biography, SlobobanMilosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia offers a readable account of both the domestic Yugoslav side of the country's collapse and the history and consequences of international interventions in the wars in Slovenia and Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo... [W]ell written..."--Julie Mertus, Political Science Quarterly "[E]xcellent... [A]nalytical... [S]ell gives the reader more information about the deeper causes of Yugoslavia's demise within the broader context of the end of the Cold War."--Christopher Cviic, The Tablet "Louis Sell ... does an excellent job of melding the firsthand experience of diplomats with background research to create a compelling picture of Milosevic and the horrors that he eventually wrought (although far from single-handedly)." --Cal Clark, Perspectives on Political Science "Sell's book, by using a tone that does not pretend definitively to 'explain' either the character of Milosevic or the sensitive and rapidly transforming political landscape of the former Yugoslavia, offers his readers the opportunity to reflect again on a period and a person we are not likely to grasp fully for a long time to come."--Holly Case, Slovene Studies "[T]his is a good book written by a knowledgeable observer... Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia should be of more than passing interest, valuable to anyone seeking further insights into a complex, crucial and wholly fascinating topic."--Dennis Reinhartz, Holocaust and Genocide Studies "[T]his book provides interesting reading and serves very well as an insider's observation and a political portrayal of Milosevic."--Kari M. Osland, Journal of Peace Research "Sell provides an excellent and readable summary of Milosevic's failed attempt to become a new Tito as head of all Yugoslavia... The book is well written, and Sell provides interesting details about the actions of US diplomats, in particular, throughout the Yugoslav crises and wars."-- Robert M. Hayden, The International History Review
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