The author is a researcher at the University of Belgrade, and seems unable to extricate himself from the intellectual constraints of his position. The first half of the book deals with 'self-management' and the bureaucratization of the Communist Party: valid themes, no doubt, but hardly key elements of an explanation of the war. When he finally turns to the break-up of Yugoslavia, he begins with a grossly Serb-nationalist account of the Kosovo question; thereafter all blame is placed on Slovenes, Croats, etc.