SINCE AUGUST 1995, U.S. assistant secretary of state Richard Holbrooke had been shuttling between the capitals of all the major factions involved in the Bosnian catastrophe: Washington, D.C.; Belgrade, Yugoslavia (Serbia proper); Zagreb, Croatia; Sarajevo, Bosnia (Muslim Bosnia); Moscow in Russia; and back to Washington. He dealt with the Bosnian Serbs through Miloševic's Rump Yugoslavia. Listening to every side's demands and demanding that they, too, listen, he hammered out deal after ever-evolving deal until he was approaching an agreement that looked like it might satisfy all the groups concerned.

With his boundless energy and competitive drive, Holbrooke refused to be bullied by the bullies. He demanded rather than debated, and he laid out a workable plan for the restructuring of Bosnia that, while not completely fair to everyone, at least promised to end the war...