Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe
A Personal History of Habsburg Europe
Simon Winder
ISBN: | 9781447241843 |
Publisher: | Picador |
Published: | 12 September, 2013 |
Format: | ePub |
Language: | English |
Links | Other Link |
Editions: |
9 other editions
of this product
|
Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe
A Personal History of Habsburg Europe
Simon Winder
For centuries much of Europe was in the hands of the very peculiar Habsburg family. An unstable mixture of wizards, obsessives, melancholics, bores, musicians and warriors, they saw off – through luck, guile and sheer mulishness – any number of rivals, until finally packing up in 1918. From their principal lairs along the Danube they ruled most of Central Europe and Germany and interfered everywhere – indeed the history of Europe hardly makes sense without them. Simon Winder’s extremely funny new book plunges the reader into a maelstrom of alchemy, skeletons, jewels, bear-moats, unfortunate marriages and a guinea-pig village. Danubia is full of music, piracy, religion and fighting. It is the history of a dynasty, but it is at least as much about the people they ruled, who spoke many different languages, lived in a vast range of landscapes, believed in many rival gods and often showed a marked ingratitude towards their oddball ruler in Vienna. Readers who discovered Simon Winder’s genius for telling wonderful stories of middle Europe with Germania will be delighted by the eccentric and fascinating stories of the Habsburgs and their world. Danubia was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2013.
Shop Preferences
Customize which shops to display. You can include the following shops by logging in to change your settings.