"[A] highly intelligent and admirably researched study... [King] is intent on mapping a new vision of the region's history, freed from its national blinkers."--Steven Beller, Times Literary Supplement "There is no other local or regional history of national identification for the Habsburg monarchy with the same chronological scope and sophisticated analysis as King's."--Gary B. Cohen, International History Review "An important study of local history in a region of Europe where many have feared to tread... [This book] is quite readable and represents a major scholarly contribution to the study of nation-building."--Jack R. Dukes, History: Reviews of New Books "[T]he most important book to appear in the fields of Austrian, Habsburg, or Bohemian history in the last twenty years."--Pieter M. Judson, Social History "[A] wonderfully reflective book... [King's] rendering of the complex national struggles is remarkably detached and empathetic at the same time, which is made particularly convincing by his elegant and respectful style of writing. Most remarkably, he depicts the role of the Habsburg rulers in a new, essentially positive light."--Diethelm Prowe, German Studies Review "The main direction of King's argument--and the book's real contribution--is to illuminate the political dimension and origins of nationalism... It is a complex story, told very engagingly. Written in a fresh style that avoids jargon and 'insiderisms,' the book will surely offer much of use to novices and well read experts alike."--Karl F. Bahm, Austrian History Yearbook "Engagingly written and convincingly argued, this volume should command a wide audience... This exemplary study is the standard by which local studies and political histories of the monarchy will be judged for years to come."--Nancy M. Wingfield, Central European History "This work is an exhaustively researched, well written, and highly interesting account of ethnic relations in a typically multiethnic Central European city, which suggests an interesting... new perspective on the relationship of ethnicity and the modern state."--Carol A. Leibiger, Seminar
