Nicola Pasic and Ante Trumbic: The book will provide the first parallel biographies of two key Yugoslav politicians of the early 20th century: Nikola Pasic, a Serb, and Ante Trumbic, a Croat. It will also offer a brief history of the creation of Yugoslavia (initially known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes), internationally accepted at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-20 (at the Treaty of Versailles). Such an approach will fill two major gaps in the literature - scholarly biographies of Pasic and Trumbic are lacking, while Yugoslavia's formation is due a reassessment - and to introduce the reader to the central question of South Slav politics: Serb-Croat relations. Pasic and Trumbic's political careers and their often troubled relationship in many ways perfectly epitomize the wider Serb-Croat question.

Dejan Djokic is Lecturer in the Department of History at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His research interests lie in the field of modern history of the Balkans, in particular the political, social and cultural history of the former Yugoslavia. His wider interests include the rise and development of national ideologies in 19th-century Europe, democracy and dictatorship in inter-war Europe, and Cold War history. His publications include Elusive Compromise: A History of Interwar Yugoslavia (2007), Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918–1992 (2003), 'Yugoslavia', in John Merriman and Jay Winter (eds), Europe since 1914: The Age of War and Reconstruction (2006), vol. 5, pp. 2790–2805, and 'Serbia in the Interwar Period (1918–1941)', in Elizabeth Vyslonzil (ed.), Serbia in Europe: Neighbourhood Relations and European Integration, (2006), pp. 15–19. He is also a regular commentator on contemporary events in the former Yugoslavia for UK and international media, including BBC World Service (Serbian section) and ABC National Radio (Sydney).