The Balkans, by Misha Glenny (Granta, £12 in UK)

The Balkans have traditionally been the powderkeg of European politics, but that is due less to any innate barbarism or cussedness in its peoples than to the tragic legacy of history, which has made them the battleground of imperial powers and the stirring-pot for war and conquest. With the Ottoman empire in decay, local warlords began to exercise power in Serbia and elsewhere from early in the 19th century, and later Bosnia became the ignition-point for the first World War through Gavrilo Princip's assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led Austria to issue Serbia with an unacceptable ultimatum. Such historic characters as "Foxy" Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Peter of Serbia, Carol of Rumania and Zog of Albania people this complex, highly readable narrative, which extends up to the present day.