Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #260862 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-25
• Released on: 1999-05-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Amazon.com Review
Between 1991 and 1995 over a quarter million people died during the conflict in the Balkan states. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe did not understand--or chose not to understand--what this war was about. The U.N. sent peacekeeping forces to aid the helpless, but would not assert its will to bring a peaceful end to the atrocities.

In a bold, contentious move by Clinton's first administration, a peace delegation was sent to Bosnia to secure an accord at any cost. A vocal proponent of this was Richard Holbrooke, then assistant secretary of state, who believed in hawkish diplomacy and a willingness to impose the moral will of America, if necessary. Holbrooke's belligerent pursuit of peace can be attributed in part to the tragedy of losing three of his team on the way through Sarajevo, making his quest for peace purposeful and passionate. In To End a War, an honest assessment and account of the events that followed, Holbrooke walks us through the complexities of the Dayton Accord from the perspective of the politicians and military men involved. It provides a fascinating insight into modern political diplomacy and the role of America in the international arena.

Without being a crusader, Holbrooke stresses throughout the need for responsible public service, subtly attacking some modern-day diplomats who use their positions irresponsibly. Ultimately he concludes that this peace process demonstrates the need for countries of power, such as the U.S., to take their of leadership roles seriously. To End a War is the definitive account of the peace process in the former Yugoslavia, important to anyone who wishes to understand the conflict in its entirety. --Jeremy Storey

From Publishers Weekly
American negotiator Holbrooke offers a fast-paced, first-person account of the American-led diplomatic initiative that ended the bloodshed of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia in 1995. A veteran of the Vietnam peace talks, one-time ambassador to Germany and assistant secretary of state, Holbrooke guides readers through "fourteen weeks... filled with conflict, confusion, and tragedy before... success." This is a penetrating portrait of modern diplomacyAwhat the author describes as "something like a combination of chess and mountain climbing." Spurred on by the deaths of three colleagues on his negotiating team (their armored personnel carrier toppled over a cliff on a treacherous approach to Sarajevo), Holbrooke hammers out a cease-fire in an intensive shuttle among the three Balkan presidents, and then presides over the three-week cloistered peace conference in Dayton, Ohio. He covers the elements of crafting effective foreign policy: coordination among various agencies and personalities in Washington; dealing with European allies; ensuring that military and diplomatic efforts work in concert; negotiating with ethnic nationalist leaders; "spinning" the press; and selling the peace plan to a skeptical Congress and public. While he provides scant background into the historical roots of the Balkan conflict, Holbrooke details the various stages of the negotiating process and vividly describes the Balkan leaders: the arrogant Tudjman, the sly Milosevic and the bickering and disorganized Bosnian Muslims. Although often self-justifying, Holbrooke acknowledges several errors, such as allowing the Bosnian Serb entity to retain the "blood-soaked name" of Republika Srpska. Still, his achievement in forging peace in Bosnia is beyond question, and his account of that process is essential for understanding how American power can be brought to bear on the course of history.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The chief U.S. negotiator of the Dayton accords gives the inside story.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Negotiating the End of the Bosnian Civil War - Dayton Accords
This book is all about negotiation. It's about Richard Holbrooke's work to end Bosnian War. He goes into details about the entire process of negotiation. How the site was selected and why, the size of the tables, the issues, the preparations before and during the negotiations, the threat of and actual military actions taken by NATO (bombing), negotiation strategies and tactics, everything.

Anyone interested in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, the Bosnian civil war, Serbia, etc. or anyone interested in complex negotiation, will thoroughly enjoy this book and learn a great deal.

A Brilliant Glimpse into the Art and Science of Diplomacy or: How to Play Chess while Mountain Climbing

As an Arms Control negotiator for more than 25 years, and a member of Bill Clinton's transition team -- who not coincidentally turned down an offer to head up the NSC's "Bosnia Desk" -- this book leaves me speechless. It is so complex, so literate, so sophisticated, so theoretical, so detailed and yet so down to earth that it is hard to comprehend how the author pulled it all off. Thank god it won a prize as one of the New York Times "Best Books of the Year," and that there are still brilliant people like Richard Holbrooke willing to serve in difficult positions in our government.

As he notes in the foreword to the book, today public service has lost much of its luster. Too often it is a way to "punch ones ticket" on the way up, a political payoff for fund-raising, or just some other game played for personal advancement.

But some problems must be left for the elite of the diplomatic profession. I am unembarrassed that I had the good sense to know that Bosnia was just such a problem (and that I was not a member of that elite). Not even knowing where Bosnia was located -- and after receiving a detailed briefing of its problems -- I knew it was well above my experience level and pay grade.

Considering the current status of our international diplomacy and our status in the world community, we Americans must be eternally grateful to people of Holbrooke's intellect and stature for their willingness to serve our nation. He stepped in and led a team that solved one of the most daunting diplomatic problems of our times.

This book is as much a testament to his genius as to the hard work of his team.

Ten stars

Post-Cold War diplomacy in action
In November, 2005, I attended a conference examining the implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The event was held in the same Wright-Patterson Air Force Base facilities used a decade earlier, and was attended by numerous individuals that took part in the negotiations. One of the primary lessons I took away from this conference is the incredible amount of hard work that goes into effective diplomacy. It's daunting and fraught with risk. Accordingly, I believe Richard Holbrooke's To End a War is an excellent recap of the events leading up to Dayton, the hard work that went into the peace effort, and the initial obstacles to the agreement's implementation.

The book is written entirely from Holbrooke's point of view as lead negotiator of the American team charged with brokering peace in Bosnia. After covering some obligatory history, it picks up with Holbrooke's small "shuttle diplomacy" team constantly moving between Washington, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, and numerous other European capitals. This portion of the book is extremely interesting and reads like a who's who of international political figures in Europe during the mid-1990s. After an incredible amount of diplomatic effort, an international peace conference is agreed upon and held in Dayton in late 1995. Holbrooke compellingly describes the edgy, contentious atmosphere and the painstaking evolution of the final agreement. Finally, he reviews some of the initial challenges implementing the accords, including convincing the military Implementation Force to exercise an assertive role in executing its mandate.

Throughout these events, meetings and interplay among Serb president Slobodan Miloseviæ, Bosnian president Alija Izetbegoviæ, Croat president Franjo Tuðman, and their subordinates are described in detail. (Interaction with Miloseviæ is particularly interesting.) In addition to balancing the hostility between these warring parties, Holbrooke and his team must tend to the concerns of European countries striving for prominence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a fragile, image-conscious Russian Federation, and disagreement among diplomats and policy makers back in the U.S. Again, diplomacy is hard work.

Ultimately, the reader should take the book for what it is: an account written from the perspective of one person (acting in a politically appointed capacity, no less). Certainly some of Holbrooke's points and appraisals will be challenged by others involved in the events. That being said, To End a War gives the appearance of being factually accurate. While his interpretation is certainly subject to criticism, Holbrooke's description of events looks solid. Readers familiar in the war in Bosnia and the Dayton Accords will find this a must read. In addition, the writing is compelling enough to draw in anyone more generally interested in diplomacy, international relations, and statecraft.

Reasons to read this book:

>>An excellent account of post-Cold War U.S. diplomacy under Clinton.

>>Interesting description of political and personal interplay between Miloseviæ, Izetbegoviæ, and Tuðman.

>>A fascinating portrait of Miloseviæ, in particular.

>>Detailed personal account of Dayton Peace Accords negotiation.