Making and Remaking Balkans: Nations and States since 1878

“This book’s strengths lie in its easy-to-read prose and frankness about the problems faced by the region, be it borders, ethnicity or the widescale corruption continuing to hold it back. Austin’s many unique and eyewitness accounts also add value to this text. Making and Remaking the Balkans is useful and insightful for anyone new to or interested in the region, particularly undergraduates of business and public policy.” James C. Pearce, University of Liverpool, Eurasian Geography and Economics

"To call modern Balkan history complicated is a euphemism. Austin navigates the reader through the volatile politics of Balkan state-building. He makes a crucial point: while the people of the region crave normality, political elites again and again fail them. European integration of the region is the only remedy. Garnished with unique insights from Austin’s many travels to the region, the book provides essential reading for anyone interested in this part of Europe."

Ulf Brunnbauer, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg, Germany

"If you want to make sense of today’s Europe, the best thing you can do is read history, and in particular good books on the history of the Balkans. Robert Austin has written exactly such a book. It is well informed, sympathetic but not sentimental, a book that allows us to see the past in the present. It is a book by someone who has made understanding the Balkans his intellectual vocation."

Ivan Krastev, Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, Austria