This book provides a decent historical overview of the conflict in the Balkans in the 1990s with perspective from locals of all walks of life, and manages to successfully integrate factual history with personal travelogue in a sincere and interesting manner. The sections on Romania and Bulgaria are especially poignant, although the section on the former Yugoslavia and Albania is a bit disinterested…you can tell these countries did not mean as much personally to Kaplan as Romania and Bulgaria. Great for an armchair traveler or casual historian.