Central Europe Books - Page 2

A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival

Stanislav J. Kirschbaum

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Slovakia's declaration of independence in January 1993 marked the reemergence of a state about which remarkably little is known. Slovakia has struggled throughout most of its history to establish a separate identity, from the time of the Great Moravian Empire in which St. Cyril and St. Methodius initiated the Christianization of the Slavs, to its rule first by the Hungarians and then by the Czechs. When the first Slovak Republic emerged in 1939, Europe was on the brink of war, a fact that has colored the world's attitude to her aspirations for statehood thereafter. Professor Kirschbaum describes the history of the Slovak nation from its arrival on the Danubian Plain and the valleys of the Tatra Mountains to its declaration of independence in 1993. The topics he examines include: the Slovak nation's contributions to European civilization in the Middle Ages; the development of a specifically Slovak consciousness in the nineteenth century in response to Budapest's policy of Magyarization; its struggle for autonomy in the Czech-dominated Czechoslovakia created by the Treaty of Versailles; its efforts, as the Slovak Republic, to face the problems of a Nazi-controlled Europe; and its reaction to the Communist regime in the second half of the twentieth century. The final chapter examines the debate about the future of Slovakia and the events that led to its independence after the fall of Communism in Central Europe.

The Habsburg Monarchy 1618-1815 (New Approaches to European History)

Charles Ingrao

List Price: $54.95 By: Cambridge University Press Amazon Marketplace: 3 new & used starting at $19.33

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Good Read 4 out of 5 stars.
13 of 16 people found this review helpful.

I don't normally write book reviews but the subject matter of the most recent review (see below) has provoked me into a response. The Congress of Vienna in which the shape of post Napoleonic Europe was determined was from September 1814 to June 1815. It is important to understand that the congress was organized to "settle" things after Napoleon went into exile on Elba in 1814. It continued through the Hundred Days that ended at Waterloo. The egregious error cited below is not an error at all.

Editorial Review:

This is the first accessible and comprehensive history of the early modern Habsburg monarchy to appear in any language. Professor Ingrao challenges the conventional notion of Habsburg state and society as peculiarly backward by tracing its emergence as a military and cultural power of enormous influence, with a large and growing population, progressive judicial and educational systems and a sizeable industrial base. The Habsburg monarchy was undeniably different from other European polities: geography and linguistic diversity made this inevitable, but by 1789 the Habsburg peoples were already beginnning to nurture a common, anational identity that transcended their particular cultural or historic heritage. Professor Ingrao unravels the web of social, political, economic and cultural factors that shaped the Habsburg monarchy during this period, and presents this complex story in a way that is both authoritative and accessible to non-specialists.

The World of the Trapp Family

William Anderson

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Arts & Literature -> Composers & Musicians -> Classical -> Vocalists
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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Instruments & Performers -> Voice

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great book 5 out of 5 stars.
42 of 48 people found this review helpful.

This book is a really great behind-the-scenes type book about the real Von Trapp family. Fans of the movie may not like it as much, because there isn't very much stuff written about the making of the SOM. However, it really gives you a very clear picture of the way the story reall was without detracting from the magic of the movie.

This book is great.... 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 21 people found this review helpful.

....because I find so many information about the Trapp Familiy which I don't know. I saw the two german movies from 1956 und 1958 and the american from 1965, and I like all this films.

The pictures make it easy to read.

But there is something, that I don't like. Martina, who died in 1951. Maria Augusta wrote only one and a half sentences about her stepdaughter. Why had she done that ?

Good, that I've read "Yesterday, Today and Forever", so I know the tragedy of Martina's death.

...

Editorial Review:

Immortalized in "The Sound of Music", the Von Trapp Family fled Hitler-invaded Austria to start new lives in America as the Trapp Family Singers. Their dramatic story is updated with information about the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont, where the singers conduct music camps and plan their world concert tours.

The Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History

Derek Sayer

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare gave the landlocked country of Bohemia a coastline--a famous and, to Czechs, typical example of foreigners' ignorance of the Czech homeland. Although the lands that were once the Kingdom of Bohemia lie at the heart of Europe, Czechs are usually encountered only in the margins of other people's stories. In The Coasts of Bohemia, Derek Sayer reverses this perspective. He presents a comprehensive and long-needed history of the Czech people that is also a remarkably original history of modern Europe, told from its uneasy center.

Sayer shows that Bohemia has long been a theater of European conflict. It has been a cradle of Protestantism and a bulwark of the Counter-Reformation; an Austrian imperial province and a proudly Slavic national state; the most easterly democracy in Europe; and a westerly outlier of the Soviet bloc. The complexities of its location have given rise to profound (and often profoundly comic) reflections on the modern condition. Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hasek, Karel Capek and Milan Kundera are all products of its spirit of place. Sayer describes how Bohemia's ambiguities and contradictions are those of Europe itself, and he considers the ironies of viewing Europe, the West, and modernity from the vantage point of a country that has been too often ignored.

The Coasts of Bohemia draws on an enormous array of literary, musical, visual, and documentary sources ranging from banknotes to statues, museum displays to school textbooks, funeral orations to operatic stage-sets, murals in subway stations to censors' indexes of banned books. It brings us into intimate contact with the ever changing details of daily life--the street names and facades of buildings, the heroes figured on postage stamps--that have created and recreated a sense of what it is to be Czech. Sayer's sustained concern with questions of identity, memory, and power place the book at the heart of contemporary intellectual debate. It is an extraordinary story, beautifully told.

The Reluctant Empress

Brigitte Hamann

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Wonderful Biography of a Difficult Woman 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 19 people found this review helpful.

Elisabeth of Austria has held a strange fascination for many people, because of her reknown beauty and her strange relationship with her husand and children. Married at 15 to the emperor of Austria, Elisabeth was under the domination of her mother in law. Her first two children are virtually raised by her mother in law and she has very little impact on their life. Feeling oppressed by the court atmosphere, Elisabeth escapes through numerous diversions, including exercise and horseback riding. Supporting a constitutional monarchy, she alienates herself from her husband, who nevertheless continues to love her desperately. Finally they are reconciled and she gives birth to her last child, a daughter who will be "her" child. Elisabeth becomes increasing erratic until she finally removes herself from court life completely. Her final years are marred by unhappiness with the suicide of her only son and her own death at the hands of an assassin.

Author Hamann does an excellent job of portryaing the life of this woman, who has often been compared to Princess Diana. What really becomes clear is that Elisabeth must have suffered from some sort of mental breakdown and without help, she chose to life a life that brought unhappiness to quite a few people, including her husband and children. The book is well written and captures the time period perfectly.

Prague in Black and Gold: Scenes from the Life of a European City

Peter Demetz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A comprehensive piece on Czech people and history 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

I have just returned from my first trip Prague and Ostrava. The history of the region is a bit confusing to us who are not familiar with this part of the world. This is an important part of the world, after all the genesis of the First World War is connected to the Bohemian Prince who was also a successor to the Habsburg throne.

Professor Demetz provides a comprehensive background to the history of the country, the intrigues and policitical fights that went on this part of the world. He provides a lively discussion of a serious subject. Prague went through a great number of battles and the people here were well involved with many events that rocked the European politics and religion.

Demetz is from Prague where he grew up and was a victim of anti-semitic tide that swept across Europe. This makes his story so human. This is not a dispassionate history book. I recommend this book to you, if are interested to know a bit more about the Czech republic and its people.

Editorial Review:

Prague is at the core of everything both wonderful and terrible in Western history, but few people truly understand this city's unique culture. In Prague in Black and Gold, Peter Demetz strips away sentimentalities and distortions and shows how Czechs, Germans, Italians, and Jews have lived and worked together for over a thousand years.

Frederick the Great: The Magnificent Enigma

Robert B. Asprey

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

History As A Thriller 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Robert Asprey's life of Frederick The Great was a fascinating read. The author's understanding of his subject makes Frederick come to life. One can understand the forces that created the man, his strengths and weaknesses.

Asprey also provides a clear view of Europe in Frederick's times. The constant conflicts between its nations is difficult to understand from the perspective of the modern reader. In our times Europe has been at peace for more than 50 years (despite the conflagration in the Balkans) yet in Frederick's time the great nations could not stop warring with each other.

Most fascinating in this book, however, is the suspense filled descriptions of Frederick's major battles and the masterful way the king manuevered through the 7 year war. This was very exciting reading. It also provided insights as to how an inferior force can prevail against what appeared to be overwhelming odds.

Editorial Review:

A cradle-to-the-grave of one of the most intriguing rulers in history, King Frederick the Great who raised the small kingdom of Prussia to major power status in the turbulent military and political struggles of the 18th century. A cruel childhood forced him to lie, deceive and cheat in order to enjoy, if only for brief periods, the life of an intellectual. Once on the throne he spent many years of often brilliant field command of his army in seemingly endless campaigns. He remained an intellectual, however, an essayist, historian, poet, flautist, consorting when possible with the French writer Voltaire.

A History of Hungary

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Excellent Overview 5 out of 5 stars.
25 of 29 people found this review helpful.

As a 1st generation Hungarian American, I wanted to learn more about my history. This book gave me an excellent in depth overview of the tumultuous history of this often overlooked nation.

Excellent: authoritative and user-friendly 5 out of 5 stars.
17 of 19 people found this review helpful.

This is the finest single-volume history of Hungary in the English language. Highly recommended work, by one of the most incisive historians of central and south-eastern Europe around.

A politically correct History of Hungary 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This book, written during the communist era, mostly by people in high positions in that regime and their American fellow travelers, reflects that perspective. It is multicultural and politically correct.

Just one example of their sinister multicultural views. They talk about the six NATIONS that make up Hungary and complain about "Hungarian ambitions of hegemony," ignoring the history of how these minorities were allowed to settle in the country.

A great disappointment!

Vienna: The Past in the Present : A Historical Survey (Studies in Austrian Literature, Culture, and Thought)

Inge Lehne, Lonnie Johnson

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Editorial Review:

This chronologically organized survey of Vienna from its origins to the present does not presuppose any advance knowledge of Central European history. Accenting the cultural, political, and social influences, the authors cover all of the major periods of development: the Roman settlements, the medieval residence of the Babenbergers and the early Habsburgs; the Turkish sieges; the Reformation and Counter Reformation; the culture of the Baroque court; reforms of the Enlightenment; the lifestyle of Viennese Biedermeier; political and cultural transformations in the age of Emperor Francis Joseph; interwar Vienna; the Nazi occupation; post-World War II four-power occupation; and the development of the city from 1955 till today. In all cases the authors show how past historical events and developments still influence the city today. Special attention is given to the development of traditions and attitudes which are peculiar to Vienna and the Viennese.

The Uncrowned Emperor: The Life and Times of Otto von Habsburg

Gordon Brook-Shepherd

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

he Austro-Hungarian Empire dominated central Europe until 1918, when the last Habsburg Emperor, Karl, fled into exile. Karl's death in 1921 made his nine-year-old son Otto head of the Habsburg family, a position he has now held for over eighty years. Born heir presumptive to an empire that stretched from the Tyrol to Transylvania, and from Poland to Sarajevo, Otto von Habsburg's life has both affected and been reflected in some of the most dramatic and historic events of the twentieth century. As a four-year-old he walked in the funeral procession of the Emperor Franz Josef in 1916. Otto van Habsburg later became the focus of royalist loyalty, as the Habsburg restoration attracted considerable political support until the Second World War. Refusing any contact with Hitler, van Habsburg fled first to France, then America, where he formed a friendship with F.D. Roosevelt. Never living in the past, and always promoting the interests of the Austrian people, he became a highly respected member of the European Parliament. Today, at 90-years-old, von Habsburg continues to be politically active, including being a strong advocate for a unified Europe.