Offered the job of succeeding David Owen as the European negotiator in Bosnia, Carl Bildt thought hard before accepting. Sustaining a coherent diplomatic initiative is exhausting and exasperating work, and the difficulties, disapp- ointments and even betrayals he suffered in the job, amply justified his hesit- ation. but the prize of seeing Bosnians beginning to put together the pieces oftheir country was a great reward. There are powerful and poignant moments, and Carl Bildt provides new inform- ation on some turning points in the Balkan saga, such as the mass killings at Srebrenica, the Croat capture of the Krajinas, and the tragic failure to preventthe Serb exodus from Sarajevo.