Book excerpt: Yugoslavia: A History of its Demise is a new history of the disintegration and collapse of the former Yugoslavia. Commencing with the death of Tito, Meier presents an insider's guide to all the regions of Yugoslavia, including Macedonia, and in particular, emphasizes the crucial part played by Slovenia before the outbreak of war in 1991. Drawing on official federal and republican archives, but also sources which are not yet officially open for scholarly use, the book covers: * the legacy of Tito's regime * the personalities who dominated the Yugoslav stage during its dismemberment * the military threat against Slovenia in the late 1980s * the attempts to find a peaceful solution * the political conditions in Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina * Western policy towards Yugoslavia's disintegration and terror.