PDF To End a War The Conflict in YugoslaviaAmerica Inside StoryNegotiating with Milosevic Modern Library Paperback Richard Holbrooke 9780375753602 Books

Download As PDF : To End a War The Conflict in YugoslaviaAmerica Inside StoryNegotiating with Milosevic Modern Library Paperback Richard Holbrooke 9780375753602 Books

When President Clinton sent Richard Holbrooke to Bosnia as America's chief negotiator in late 1995, he took a gamble that would eventually redefine his presidency. But there was no saying then, at the height of the war, that Holbrooke's mission would succeed. The odds were strongly against it.
        As passionate as he was controversial, Holbrooke believed that the only way to bring peace to the Balkans was through a complex blend of American leadership, aggressive and creative diplomacy, and a willingness to use force, if necessary, in the cause for peace. This was not a universally popular view. Resistance was fierce within the United Nations and the chronically divided Contact Group, and in Washington, where many argued that the United States should not get more deeply involved. This book is Holbrooke's gripping inside account of his mission, of the decisive months when, belatedly and reluctantly but ultimately decisively, the United States reasserted its moral authority and leadership and ended Europe's worst war in over half a century. To End a War reveals many important new details of how America made this historic decision.
        What George F. Kennan has called Holbrooke's "heroic efforts" were shaped by the enormous tragedy with which the mission began, when three of his four team members were killed during their first attempt to reach Sarajevo. In Belgrade, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Paris, Athens, and Ankara, and throughout the dramatic roller-coaster ride at Dayton, he tirelessly imposed, cajoled, and threatened in the quest to stop the killing and forge a peace agreement. Holbrooke's portraits of the key actors, from officials in the White House and the Élysée Palace to the leaders in the Balkans, are sharp and unforgiving. His explanation of how the United States was finally forced to intervene breaks important new ground, as does his discussion of the near disaster in the early period of the implementation of the Dayton agreement.
        To End a War is a brilliant portrayal of high-wire, high-stakes diplomacy in one of the toughest negotiations of modern times. A classic account of the uses and misuses of American power, its lessons go far beyond the boundaries of the Balkans and provide a powerful argument for continued American leadership in the modern world.

PDF To End a War The Conflict in YugoslaviaAmerica Inside StoryNegotiating with Milosevic Modern Library Paperback Richard Holbrooke 9780375753602 Books

"Richard Holbrooke offers a fascinating account of American efforts to end the Balkans Wars in â€œTo End a War.â€ Holbrooke guides readers through the often complex proceedings and actions, trying to provide insight on confusing and unfamiliar clashes, leaders, peoples and places. Many people in North American and even Europe were lost as they tried to follow events in the Balkans and, to his credit, Holbrooke was able to unravel the confusion in his book. With a powerful look at the Dayton negotiations and shuttle diplomacy, Holbrookeâ€™s book remains valuable. There are enough human moments--including a moving account of the deaths of a number of colleagues--to provide some excellent balance. While Holbrooke always came off as cocky, he showed enough modesty in the book to admit to more than his share of missteps and errors. This is a fascinating book and the nation was for the worse after Holbrookeâ€™s sudden death. Highly recommended."

Product details

Series Modern Library (Paperback)
Paperback 464 pages
Publisher Modern Library; Revised edition (May 25, 1999)
Language English
ISBN-10 0375753605

Read To End a War The Conflict in YugoslaviaAmerica Inside StoryNegotiating with Milosevic Modern Library Paperback Richard Holbrooke 9780375753602 Books

To End a War The Conflict in YugoslaviaAmerica Inside StoryNegotiating with Milosevic Modern Library Paperback Richard Holbrooke 9780375753602 Books Reviews :

To End a War The Conflict in YugoslaviaAmerica Inside StoryNegotiating with Milosevic Modern Library Paperback Richard Holbrooke 9780375753602 Books Reviews

Richard Holbrooke offers a fascinating account of American efforts to end the Balkans Wars in â€œTo End a War.â€ Holbrooke guides readers through the often complex proceedings and actions, trying to provide insight on confusing and unfamiliar clashes, leaders, peoples and places. Many people in North American and even Europe were lost as they tried to follow events in the Balkans and, to his credit, Holbrooke was able to unravel the confusion in his book. With a powerful look at the Dayton negotiations and shuttle diplomacy, Holbrookeâ€™s book remains valuable. There are enough human moments--including a moving account of the deaths of a number of colleagues--to provide some excellent balance. While Holbrooke always came off as cocky, he showed enough modesty in the book to admit to more than his share of missteps and errors. This is a fascinating book and the nation was for the worse after Holbrookeâ€™s sudden death. Highly recommended.
Whether you liked Richard Holbrooke or not (and he had many enemies), this is one of the best books about the final days of the Third Balkans War and the negotiations leading to the Dayton accords.

In true Holbrooke fashion, it is fairly self-centered, but not unjustifiably. It took someone with his iron fist and narcissistic temperament to match guys like Milosavic or Tudjman. In my humble opinion, few others could have done it.

I am aware there are other players in this drama who believe Holbrooke slanted the facts to show himself in the best light. Undoubtedly he did, since it is told exclusively from his first-person perspective. But from my perspective, this adds flavor to the book--you have no doubt where he stood on particular tactics or strategy and where he thought others were mistaken. Like all history, particularly first-person accounts, you need to read multiple versions to get this "real story".

In any case, this is not to debate his personal traits or selected narrative, but to commend this book as an excellent description of difficult negotiations that Holbrooke writes like a suspense story. Yes, we know how it ultimately ends, but he leaves us turning pages since his verson shows the conclusion was by no means certain.

Bottom line an excellent first-person description of the events leading to the Dayton Accords by the man who successfully concluded them. A good read and highly recommended.
Very well written and fast paced, highly detailed account of one person's perspective from the inner circle of negotiators. I was a bit distracted from time to time by Holbrooke's grandiosity and highly favorable comparison of himself to previous diplomats in very different circumstances, however, but I at the same time enjoyed his candor and willingness to be opinionated.
I read this one for class and I am a huge history buff in the first place so I was excited. Knowing what I knew already about the war and the efforts that were going on I was really ready to read this one. From the time I bought it to the time I finished it I couldn't put it down. I read it in about six hours and I just was enthralled with it. He was up on the lines living the hell that went on over there, all the travel all the negotiations were an integral part of the war effort. I am grateful that this guy was willing to risk life and limb to do this and to put it into words.
Imagine you are a regional or a global power dealing with a country torn by a civil war. Warring parties won't talk to each other and prefer to let guns speak, but they know that nothing short of a political solution will allow them to break the stalemate. They turn to you to solve this mess, but they are at the same time deeply resentful of your intervention and more than ready to denounce your interference if peace negotiations turn awry. Your allies, as well as the so-called international community, are not very supportive either you know they will claim paternity to the victory in case of success but that you will the only one to bear the blame if things fail. To complicate matters, you know that you have a very short window of opportunity to exploit before the country plunges back into internal warfare. What do you do?

Well, a good way to start would be to read Richard Holbrooke's book, To End A War, published in 1998. Holbrooke was President Clinton's chief negotiator to the Balkans and the architect of the Dayton agreements which brought the Bosnian war to a close and put Bosnia on the map. His narrative of the twenty days of negotiations that took place on a remote army base in Dayton, Ohio, has since then become a classic among apprentice mediators and would-be peacemakers. As the author himself acknowledges, "since November 21, 1995, `Dayton' has entered the language as shorthand for a certain type of diplomacy - the Big Bang approach to negotiations lock everyone up until they reach agreement. A `Dayton' has been seriously suggested for Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Kashmir, the Mideast..." The list could be extended since the book was published.

Attention to details matters. The author describes the care attached to the shape and size of the negotiating table (a major stumbling block to the Paris peace talks with the North Vietnamese in 1968, to which Holbrooke participated as a junior diplomat), the setting of the compound, the choice of audio channels for translation, the eating arrangements, etc. The rules of the game were set at the beginning no talking to the press or walking out of the venue; most discussions to be conducted as "proximity talks", whereby the mediator moves between the different parties, who rarely meet one another face-to-face. Some elements were left to chance the proximity of Packy's All-Sports Bar, the main source of recreation at the base, provided a neutral ground where the Croats gathered to cheer their hero, Toni Kukoc of the Chicago Bulls, while the Serbs waited to cheer Vlade Divac of the Los Angeles Lakers, and all parties united fleetingly to watch America's Favorite Home Videos. Milosevic grew especially fond of "Waitress Wicky", with whom he exchanged quips and hummed favorite songs.

The key to the success was the cohesiveness of the negotiating team, bound together by the tragic loss of three senior officials in a mission to Sarajevo early in the process. Interestingly, Holbrooke pays tribute to the role played by the Treasury Department, represented at Dayton by one of its most brilliant young economists and which, along with the World Bank, devised the framework for a common currency and assembled an economic package that provided a strong incentive for Izetbegovic to sign the deal. The importance of the economic aspects of a peace treaty is another lesson that is as valid today as it was at the start of John Maynard Keynes' public career.
Ambassador Holbrooke tells the story of the Bosnian war, and the negotiations to end it, much like a novel. From each chapter to the next, you are left to continue to find out what happens next, this even though knowing the outlines of this tragedy, and its ending.
It was a decent book but gave way too much irrelevant information that did nothing but stroke career diplomat'â€‹s egos.
This is a very readable account of the negotiations for peace in Bosnia. I couldn't believe the effort the Americans put into getting different sides to talk to each other. I highly recommend it.

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PDF To End a War The Conflict in YugoslaviaAmerica Inside StoryNegotiating with Milosevic Modern Library Paperback Richard Holbrooke 9780375753602 Books

PDF To End a War The Conflict in YugoslaviaAmerica Inside StoryNegotiating with Milosevic Modern Library Paperback Richard Holbrooke 9780375753602 Books

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To End a War The Conflict in YugoslaviaAmerica Inside StoryNegotiating with Milosevic Modern Library Paperback Richard Holbrooke 9780375753602 Books Reviews :

To End a War The Conflict in YugoslaviaAmerica Inside StoryNegotiating with Milosevic Modern Library Paperback Richard Holbrooke 9780375753602 Books Reviews

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