John Borneman
The Vanishing Hectare is the polished work of a scholar who, after several decades of ethnographic fieldwork in a single place, brings her knowledge to bear on a problem of world-historical significance: the transformation of property following the collapse of state socialism in the former Soviet bloc. Katherine Verdery traces how collective forms of land use were transformed into 'private property,' and does so methodically, documenting and analyzing with neither polemics nor circumlocution.
Michael Burawoy
Here at last is Katherine Verdery's magnum opus. Extending out from a village in Transylvania to regional peculiarities, government policies, and the demands of the IMF and World Bank, Verdery illuminates the forces at work throughout the postsocialist world. This is a tour de force, the very best of ethnography with a historical and global reach, setting new standards for the study of market transition.
Marilyn Strathern
This is an example of ethnographic enquiry at its best. In Katherine Verdery's hands it becomes a superb vehicle for exploring the tragedy of reformist intentions. Using economic means to achieve social ends, and the consequences this has for people's livelihood, is a story told over and over again in twentieth-century history. Here the socialist and postsocialist experiments of Eastern Europe have a special poignancy, not least in the way the people contribute to their own predicaments. Verdery dignifies their endeavours with breathtaking documentation and a fine-grained analysis of social realities. A remarkable feat.