Pieter M. Judson, European University Institute:
"Whose Bosnia? is a welcome critical alternative both to the nationalist obsessions of many academics in the region today, and to the often shockingly ahistoric views of the region expressed in the popular press and academic writings in both Europe and the United States. In this intellectually courageous book Edin Hajdarpasic masterfully reveals the complex ways in which local activists in Bosnia linked themselves to different national and imperial projects at different times. Restoring the Ottoman and Habsburg pasts to Balkan history, Hajdarpasic questions the very usefulness of terms like 'nation' and ‘empire.' Far from constituting opposed concepts and political projects, he demonstrates how nationhood and empire in fact depended on each other for their explanatory coherence. More than that, the two made use of similar language and similar ideas."
Dževada Šuško:
"This book introduces new perspectives to our understanding of nationalism in Bosnia, which was, as Hajdarpašić persuasively argues, imported from neighboring countries. Given the wealth of primary sources on which Hajdarpašić draws, his inquiry goes into an amazing level of detail and offers an immense range of information. It will be particularly useful to students and scholars of history, political science, cultural anthropology, sociology, and linguistics."
Robert Donia, University of Michigan:
"This seminal work reads like the magnum opus of a senior scholar rather than a first-time author; it should top the list of readings recommended to explain the often perplexing omnipresence of nationalism in Bosnia's modern history. By convincingly reconceptualizing the character of national movements and presenting myriad invaluable insights, Edin Hajdarpasic deepens our understanding of the phenomenon in the Balkans and beyond."
Tara Zahra, University of Chicago:
"Whose Bosnia? is the most exciting and original work on Balkan nationalism in decades. Focusing on nationalist imagination, Edin Hajpardasic offers a fresh interpretation of nationalization as an unsettling and productive force, a 'shifting horizon' that can never quite be reached. His nuanced readings of political tracts, poetry, ethnography, music, travel guides, literature, artwork, and more should fascinate and stimulate anyone interested in the history or ongoing reality of nationalist conflict around the globe."
Maria Todorova:
"Elegantly written and full of unexpected (re)readings and provocative insights, this work towers over the already respectable stack of books on the cultural history of nationalism. What makes this work attractive is the wide culture and sophistication displayed, the ease with which Hajdarpašić moves from literary to philosophical allusions, the erudite interdisciplinary sweep, from anthropology to sociology and political science. This, more than the "grounded theory", really "de-provincializes" its subject, and makes the work an important contribution not only to East European literature broadly, but to nationalism studies in general."
Holly Case, Cornell University, author of Between States: The Transylvanian Question and the European Idea during World War II:
"In Whose Bosnia?, Edin Hajdarpasic breaks ice and opens up new waters for exploration. Hajdarpasic views the inherent inability to complete the nation-building process through the case of nineteenth-century Bosnia. This book is an intellectual and cultural history of attempted solutions to period questions and the proliferation of questions that was the result."
Azra Hromadzic:
"Whose Bosnia? by Edin Hajdarpasic is one of the most important recent contributions to the scholarship of the Balkan region, especially Bosnia.... The book is refreshing both methodologically and theoretically. The author's methodology covers vast geopolitical space, and it includes multiple (sub)national and regional archives as well as rich and detailed archival descriptions of major (and not so major) actors and events.... I and many of my colleagues, along with other scholars of the Balkans and beyond, have been waiting for an account like this for a long time—an account that is not afraid to ask difficult questions; approach them studiously, seriously, and in an interdisciplinary fashion; and answer them in a way that is supported by vast amount of evidence, grace, and honesty."
