The sheer quality and depth of the writing make it one of the great books of the century
* Times Literary Supplement *
Impossible to put down, both timeless and of its time - a travel book and epic narrative history brimming with passion, anger, scholarship and intuition, hatred and love
* Observer *
One of the supreme masterpieces of the twentieth century . . . As a book about Yugoslavia it's a kind of metaphysical <i>Lonely Planet</i> that never requires updating
- GEOFF DYER,
It is hard to convey the flavour of a book so rich in observation, history, philosophy, political ideas and ironic humour
* The Times *
It is a brilliant antidote to the disease that would have us believe that these are faraway countries about which we know nothing
* Guardian *
Such incandescent writing - you find yourself wanting to mark every sentence in order to go back and relish it again
- BRIAN ENO,
Rebecca West's magnum opus . . . one of the great books of our time
* New Yorker *
You will search in vain for a more original, assured and companionable guide to former Yugoslavia
* Financial Times *
Dame Rebecca, the finest reporter of her generation, saw everything . . . A remarkably easy read
* Sunday Telegraph *
Written with a fierce intelligence that any journalist must envy and admire
* Daily Telegraph *