"Mr. Alofsin says that the cold war left much of the ’extraordinary, creative modern architecture’ created in the breakup of the Hapsburg Empire relatively unknown to Western scholars. Thus his book wanders widely in those territories — from the northern fringe of Hapsburg hegemony (in today’s Poland) far south into the empire’s Balkan domains. Along the way, he scans official buildings, churches, and cemeteries for what he calls ’the interplay between personal and national identity.’ In the process, he also links these often-ignored buildings to better-known structures such as the Rathaus and the Secession Building in Vienna."

Richard Byrne | Chronicle of Higher Education

"The book itself as a production is spectacular."

David Dunster | Architectural Review