Through short but deeply felt essays on everything from house paint and high-heeled shoes to point-blank murder, Drakulić tells the story of the Balkan crisis as people are living it. This is firsthand war reporting without body counts or strategic analyses; in-depth political commentary without the statements of presidents or the opinions of self-appointed experts. Drakulić focuses on individual lives… using the perversions that war forces onto everyday life to reveal the true complexity of the crisis and the enormity of the task of reconciliation.