Missing Lives.

In the Yugoslav wars tens of thousands of Europeans vanished. In a desperate need for news, their families prayed for a message, begged for the truth and fell for blackmail. In almost every case, the missing had been murdered. But without word, witness or body, the bereaved could not accept their loss. Their torment was drawn out as long as ten, even eighteen years - for many it continues still. Children waited for parents to return from the grave. Mothers made up their dead son's beds. Old men couldn't bury their descendants. The living also lost their lives. For the first time in war DNA has been used to match blood and bone, reuniting families divided by death, enabling survivors to find closure and to begin to live again. These fifteen, heartbreaking Balkan stories - told by Rory MacLean and Nick Danziger, two of Europe's most sensitive chroniclers - represent a tiny proportion of an immense tragedy. 'Missing Lives' gives a voice to the unacknowledged suffering of these families, to all who went missing by force, and reminds us that in war - whatever the technological advances - there is no greater loss than the disappearance of those we love.

Nick Danziger was born in London and developed a taste for adventure and travel from a young age and, inspired by the comic strip Belgian reporter Tintin, took off on his first trip to Paris aged 13. Nick's initial ambition was to be an artist, and he attended art school, got an MA, and representation from a gallery. But his desire to travel remained; he was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship in 1982 and used it to follow ancient trade routes - travelling on foot or traditional local transport from Turkey to China - and documented his adventures in his diaries. The diaries formed his first book, the best selling Danziger's Travels, and he never looked back. He has since travelled around the world taking photographs and in 1991 made his first documentary in Afghanistan, War Lives and Videotape, based on children abandoned in the Marastoon mental asylum in Kabul. It was shown as part of the BBC's video diaries and won the Prix Italia for best television documentary. His photographic essays appear regularly in magazines and books throughout the world. Digital Camera magazine recently wrote, 'It's no exaggeration to say that Nick Danziger is one of the finest photojournalists this country has ever produced. He's a naturally gifted visual story-teller.' His photographic work is held in museum collections worldwide and he has won several prestigious awards including the World Press Photo (1st prize portrait category) for his 'mirror' image of Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush. The shot was taken during Danziger's 30-day, ground-breaking study of a Prime Minister at war, with unprecedented access to Tony Blair's inner circle as he faced down an angry nation and deployed British forces against Iraq. Danziger is also the holder of the Royal Geographical Society's Ness Award in recognition of raising public understanding of contemporary social, political and environmental issues through documentary films and photography. In 2007 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society. Rory MacLean's seven books, including UK best-sellers 'Stalin's Nose' and'Under the Dragon', have challenged and invigorated travel writing, and according to the late John Fowles are among works that 'marvellously explain why literature still lives'. During his research journeys, MacLean walked through the newly-opened Berlin Wall, met Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon and interviewed Pashtun elders at the Kacha Garhi refugee camp after thedestruction of the World Trade Center. His books have won awards from the Canada Council and the Arts Council of England, were shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Prize and nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary award. He has also written and presented over 50 radio programmes for the BBC and worked on movies with Marlene Dietrich and David Bowie. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an active member of International PEN. Mark Thomson was Art Director of the celebrated international publisher Taschen in the 1990s, creating a lasting identity through many successful series and individual books. His groundbreaking monograph on Philippe Starck in 1997 won a D&AD Yellow Pencil and a Deutscher Preis fur KommunikationsA--design, and was shortlisted for the Art Directors Club of Europe Gold Award. Since 1998 he has been principal of London-based International Design UK, designing and producing award-winning books with artists and publishers worldwide. Between 2003 and 2008 he was also Art Director of Collins. His work has also been awarded several British Book Design and Production Awards, the Gourmand World Cookbook of the Year, and the Chairman's Prize in the All Japan Print and Poster Fair. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Eye magazine, and writes frequently on art, design and typography. He lives and works in London.