The Breakup of Yugoslavia and the War in Bosnia Book

This book is an excellent guide to events in Balkans in the early 90's. It gives a short history of the area, and has essays on the most important factors leading directly to the Bosnian war before delving into the war itself.

This book covers the diplomatic and cultural issues surrounding the war, and does not get into the nuts and bolts of the battles, so people seeking a physical breakdown of the actual war should look elsewhere.

This book, despite its claims, is not exactly ideal for people who know nothing about the war. It was written shortly after the events it chronicles and is based on the idea that people reading it will be at least nominally familiar with the names and terms it throws out, particularly when discussing some of the larger human rights abuses (the author seems to think we're all very familiar with the siege of Sarajevo and the massacre at Srebrenica, for example, so she gives almost no information about them but references them frequently), so, in that respect you could say the book has not well stood the test of time.