'An elegant, erudite and thoughtful book. Luka Ivan Juki brings to life a part of Europe that is too often pushed into the margins but can be best understood as its heart. This is a region that can defy easy categorisation, but Juki captures that complexity with rare sensitivity and insight.' -- Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History, University of Oxford 'A fantastic journey into a territory that is both absent and present, that is ephemeral but for which whole peoples are ready to die for.' * Peter Pomerantsev, author of How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler * A masterful and bold account of the German and Habsburg Empires and of the Central European states which succeeded them, told with scholarly rigour and narrative élan. * Martyn Rady, author of The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe * Language matters, as in naming a space we identify, claim or reject it. From its cracking opening with a literary duel in a Lisbon hotel onwards, Luka Ivan Jukics book captivates the reader with its epic story of the life, death and possible rebirth of the idea of Central Europe. * Brendan Simms, Professor of the History of European International Relations, University of Cambridge * 'With a keen eye for both big and small key events, Luka Ivan Jukic meticulously unravels the history of Central Europe, as a territory, an idea and an ideal. To understand contemporary antisemitism and the war in Ukraine, this is essential reading.' * Pauline Terreehorst, author of Secrets of a Suitcase *
