This is the first authoritative biography of Slobodan Milosevic, currently on trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity. Adam LeBor, a critically acclaimed author and journalist who covered the Yugoslav Wars for the "Independent" and "The Times", documents the life of a man whose policies instigated four wars, who skilfully exploited the most modern techniques of media management to whip up a nationalist frenzy, and under whose rule bloody campaigns of ethnic cleansing systematically destroyed a once sophisticated multi-ethnic country, and yet who retained for a decade the ability to wrap the 'international community' round his little finger. It gives the inside story of Milosevic's childhood, his marriage to Mira (who gave him an entree into the highest circles of Yugoslavia's political elite), his rise to power, the looted money (estimated at some $30 billion), the ascendancy of crime over politics (personified in his son Marko's enterprises), his relationships with key figures like Radovan Karadzic and Franjo Tujman, not to mention the many western diplomats, politicians and businessmen with whom he dealt for more than 10 years, and finally the story of his fall from power.

This is the first authoritative biography of Slobodan Milosevic, currently on trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity. Adam LeBor, a critically acclaimed author and journalist who covered the Yugoslav Wars for the "Independent" and "The Times", documents the life of a man whose policies instigated four wars, who skilfully exploited the most modern techniques of media management to whip up a nationalist frenzy, and under whose rule bloody campaigns of ethnic cleansing systematically destroyed a once sophisticated multi-ethnic country, and yet who retained for a decade the ability to wrap the 'international community' round his little finger. It gives the inside story of Milosevic's childhood, his marriage to Mira (who gave him an entree into the highest circles of Yugoslavia's political elite), his rise to power, the looted money (estimated at some $30 billion), the ascendancy of crime over politics (personified in his son Marko's enterprises), his relationships with key figures like Radovan Karadzic and Franjo Tujman, not to mention the many western diplomats, politicians and businessmen with whom he dealt for more than 10 years, and finally the story of his fall from power.

This is the first authoritative biography of Slobodan Milosevic, currently on trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity. Adam LeBor, a critically acclaimed author and journalist who covered the Yugoslav Wars for the "Independent" and "The Times", documents the life of a man whose policies instigated four wars, who skilfully exploited the most modern techniques of media management to whip up a nationalist frenzy, and under whose rule bloody campaigns of ethnic cleansing systematically destroyed a once sophisticated multi-ethnic country, and yet who retained for a decade the ability to wrap the 'international community' round his little finger. It gives the inside story of Milosevic's childhood, his marriage to Mira (who gave him an entree into the highest circles of Yugoslavia's political elite), his rise to power, the looted money (estimated at some $30 billion), the ascendancy of crime over politics (personified in his son Marko's enterprises), his relationships with key figures like Radovan Karadzic and Franjo Tujman, not to mention the many western diplomats, politicians and businessmen with whom he dealt for more than 10 years, and finally the story of his fall from power.