This is a meticulous study of Soviet nationality policy, focusing on Azerbaijan, based on extensive archival research and oral history from 120 interviews.

Across this book, Goff juggles a laudable range of detail with clarity and persuasion, reminding at each turn how much further one could go.

To find out how things worked in the republics, you have to go to Krista Goff's fascinating story of the Caucasus, the product of dauntingly difficult research in recalcitrant archives and with oral history informants inclined to look anxiously over their shoulders.

In this impressive first monograph, Krista Goff offers new insight into Soviet nation-building in the non-Russian republics, particularly in the Southern Caucasus. [T]he book offers rich, archivally grounded detail on a range of complex issues in the South Caucasus. Written in accessible prose and with clear argument, it will prove to be essential reading for scholars of Soviet nation-building and the South Caucasus.

[A] pioneering study, illuminating a hitherto unknown perspective on the history of the Soviet nationality policy, and the USSR generally. Moreover, it will serve future generations as an essential reference work on the history of Soviet Azerbaijan and the development of Soviet Azeri national consciousness, surpassing all other previous works on this subject. Enriched by lively and engaging prose, and a first-rate source base of archival materials and interviews, it makes for insightful and dynamic reading. A new classic in the field, it is a highly recommended work!

A core value of the book lies not only in the originality of its thesis but also in the utilization of archival and oral history sources that are presented to us for the first time. It is a testament to Goff's investigative tenacity that the final product is an empirically rich and cogent work of scholarship.

Krista A. Goff produces a groundbreaking work of historiography that examines Soviet nationality politics in the context of the "nontitular" ethnicities of the Caucasus, with particular attention given to minority groups in the Azerbaijan SSR. Nested Nationalism is an achievement in its own right.

Nested Nationalism provides a deeply-informed account of how Soviet nationality policies shaped interethnic relationships and national identifications for future generations across the Caucasus. It is an invaluable book for anyone trying to understand the troubling experiences of minority communities in the Soviet Union and their continued quest for belonging long after its collapse. The 2020 resumption of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh is a stark reminder of the Soviet legacy and the asymmetries of power Krista Goff lays out in the book.