"The breadth of scholarship that Van Steen commands is truly impressive. There are few other books that demonstrate such mastery over so many different bodies of scholarship (history, theater studies, literary criticism, etc.) in so many different languages. Just as impressive is her command of critical theory. The book takes on the literatures on the Balkan Enlightenment, on travel in an imperial context, on Orientalism, and on the cultural history of imperialism. Through her sophisticated analysis of them, Van Steen opens up new ways of thinking about the contest between the expandingwestern European empires and the emergent state of Greece for proprietorship of the legacy of ancient Greek culture. In sum, this is an exceptionally important book: erudite, sophisticated, and innovative." - Thomas W. Gallant, Nicholas Family Endowed Chair of Modern Greek History, University of California-San Diego