Columbia University Press The Kosova Liberation Army: Underground War to Balkan Insurgency, 1948-2001

In the struggle against Slobodan Milosevic's Serbia, the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) evolved from a tiny group of conspirators operating out of the 1980s Swiss political underground into an 18,000-strong military force allied with NATO by 1997. In this groundbreaking history, James Pettifer traces the development of the KLA from previously unknown documents located in Russian, American, Serbian, Swiss, and other archives; numerous interviews with participants and observers; and other eyewitness accounts. He demonstrates how the KLA made use of deep historical traditions of resistance to Serbian rule in Kosovo and, in other respects, forged an innovative, postmodern path by relying on its media image as much as its campaign achievements. Pettifer particularly focuses on the secret work of KLA leaders prior to war and Milosevic's fatal misunderstanding of the opponent he faced.