"The importance of [the 1913] report for the world lies primarily in the light it casts on the excruciating situation prevailing today... to reveal to people of this age how much of today's problem has deep roots and how much does not. It will be easier to think of solutions when such realities are kept in mind."-George F. Kennan (from the Introduction)

Timeless and timely, these pages bring to life again--after eight decades--the ravages of war in the Balkans at the other end of the twentieth century. These pages also bespeak a confidence misplaced and an optimism lost. Professor Kennan's introduction also bridges the Balkan wars of 1913 and 1993. He does justice to both eras with a historian's eye and a special blend of realism and moral sensibility.