"The book is highly relevant from a political point of view, as the debates about the status of Kosovo and possible land swaps with Serbia are still ongoing and have grown more intense during the last years. The remarkable aspect of Bancroft's work, though, is that it does not get bogged down in bureaucratic analyses of this seemingly eternal dispute, but provides great insight into the struggles of the people who actually live here. The writer and diplomat gives a human face to this volatile region."-De Facto, April 2020
Ian Bancroft is a writer and diplomat who has been based in the former Yugoslavia for over a decade. He has worked for the European Union in Kosovo and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and has written extensively about Balkan affairs for a variety of publications, including The Guardian and Radio Free Europe. He has lectured on conflict and peacebuilding, and is the author of a chapter, entitled Reconciliation through Recognition, in The Yugoslav Example: Violence, War and Difficult Ways Towards Peace. Bancroft has also written travel articles for, among others, Wine Spectator, The Independent and Open Democracy.