This landmark biography, now in English for the first time, reveals the life of one of the most powerful figures of the Cold War era. Josip Broz, nicknamed Tito, led Yugoslavia for nearly four decades with charisma, cunning, and an iron fist. An illuminating, definitive portrait of a complex man in turbulent times, a life as riveting as any John Le Carré plot.

A biography of the charismatic and controversial Yugoslavian leader Josip Broz Tito. The near-mythological figure Josip Broz Tito was a complicated one. An oppressor, a dictator, a reformer, and a playboy, Tito was an inspirational partisan leader and scourge of the Germans during their occupation of Yugoslavia in the Second World War, a doctrinaire communist, and an ever-present thorn in Moscow’s side. He managed Yugoslavia’s internal tensions through personality, a force of will, and political oppression. It was only after his death in 1980 that the true scale of his influence was understood. At that time, Yugoslavia’s institutions and politicians were revealed as rudderless, and the country created by Tito—a Croat turned Yugoslav—collapsed into a bloody and at times genocidal civil war. These ethnic conflicts were Tito’s nightmare, yet, as Neil Barnett shows in this short but engaging biography, they were in many ways the result of his own myopic egomania.

Filled with over 500 reviews, this catalog gives readers the lowdown on sex, drugs, conspiracies, censorship, religious and political extremism, illegal activities and other "off-limits" topics--the lessons that were somehow left out of traditional schooling. Every review is accompanied by ordering information. 150 illustrations.

Few figures have dominated a nation's destiny as much as Marshal Tito of former Yugoslavia. For nearly thirty years he held together mutually hostile religious groups in a deeply divided country, but his death in 1980 rekindled centuries-old hatreds and by 1992 Yugoslavia ceased to exist. In this revealing biography, Richard West questions the full impact of Tito's reign of power and his implicit responsibility for the ensuing violent, bloody war in Bosnia. 'Excellent ... I recommend his book for those who already know about Yugoslavia and want food for thought about the future.' David Owen, Sunday Times 'Admirable ... Carefully researched and extremely readable.' Literary Review 'A passionate book, in which West's historical sense is interlaced with his own very intimate knowledge of Yugoslavia from the late 1940s on and of the poignancy of [subsequent] events.' Fergus Pyle, Irish Times 'Masterly'. Glasgow Herald

In this, the first post-communist biography of Tito, the renowned historian Geoffrey Swain paints a new picture of this famous figure. Swain explores not only Tito's relationship with Stalin, but also his earlier relationship with the Comintern and his long engagement with Khrushchev and the de-Stalinisation process. --Book Jacket.

Josip Broz (1892 - 1980), commonly known as Tito, was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various roles from 1943 until his death in 1980. During World War II, he was the leader of the Partisans, often regarded as the most effective resistance movement in fascist occupied Europe. He also served as the president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 14 January 1953 until his death on 4 May 1980.

Based on extensive archival research and fieldwork and the culmination of more than two decades of study, The Three Yugoslavias is a major contribution to an understanding of Yugoslavia and its successor states.