by Adam LeBor
Bloomsbury $310
Slobodan Milosevic started four wars. The roll call of places he plunged into conflict reads: Slovenia (1989-91), Croatia (1990-92), Bosnia (1993) and Kosovo (1998-99). Adam LeBor, a Times journalist and author of Hitler's Secret Bankers, covered the wars that destroyed Yugoslavia. To try to understand the deposed Serbian president, now on trial in the Hague for crimes against humanity, LeBor draws on 'unrivalled access' to Milosevic's inner circle.
You might assume the former dictator's father, Svetozar, was some kind of ogre. Wrong. He was a 'deeply spiritual' individual who intoned the Serbian orthodox liturgy mellifluously, read poetry and philosophy, and loved to play the gusle, a traditional one-stringed bowed instrument. Likewise, his wife, Stanislava, was no dragon, but a stunningly beautiful and conscientious primary school teacher.
The country, however, was ravaged by World War II and the couple was poor. When Milosevic was six in 1947, Svetozar returned to his beloved native Montenegro, leaving Stanislava to raise the family in Serbia. Both would later commit suicide.
Milosevic evolved into a communist and staunch Tito supporter like his mother, but lacked her charisma. Most people assumed he would become a successful, mid-level official. So how did he become the terrifying power broker dubbed the Butcher of the Balkans? Well, marrying society girl and ardent communist Mira Markovic apparently helped. Reinforcing the political values his mother had instilled, Markovic groomed him for power and eased his progress through her connections.