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Budapest : portrait of a city between East and West / Victor Sebestyen.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Pantheon Books, [2023]Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First American editionDescription: 418 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780593317563
  • 0593317564
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction -- Prologue -- Part one: The Magyars. Aquincum -- The Magyars -- The Khans invade -- The raven king -- The empire strikes back -- Budun -- A Turkish town -- Division of the spoils -- Buda regained -- Part two: The Habsburgs. The baroque -- Gloom and glory -- Language, truth and logic -- The bridge builder -- The great flood -- The ides of March -- The revolutionary war -- A revenge tragedy -- Judapest -- Empress Sisi -- The dual monarchy--victory in defeat -- Budapest is born -- Café culture -- The Hungarian pogroms -- Illiberal democracy -- My country right or wrong -- Part three: The world at war -- The beginning of the end -- Lenin's pupil -- The admiral without a navy -- Marching in step with Hitler -- Madness visible -- The siege of Budapest -- Liberation -- The Iron Curtain descends -- The house of terror -- Revolution -- Again -- Betrayal in Moscow -- The merriest barracks in the camp -- The last rites.
Summary: "From the critically acclaimed historian Victor Sebestyen, the enthralling account of historical and cultural events that define Budapest, a unique city on the fault line between East and West in the heart of Europe. Including an eight-page insert of photographs, this book is a glorious homage to an extraordinary city"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction New 943.912 S443 Checked out 06/25/2024 33111011184542
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

AN ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A vivid and enthralling account of the historical and cultural events that defined Budapest, a unique city in the heart of Europe, on the fault line between East and West--from the critically acclaimed author of Lenin

"A compelling portrait of one of the most important cities in Europe. Full of sharp insights, elegant writing and vivid characters." --Andrew Roberts, author of The Chief

Victor Sebestyen has written a sweeping, colorful and immersive history of the capital of Hungary, from the fifth century to the present day: a metropolis whose location in Europe has marked it as a crucial city--at times rich and prosperous, at times enduring unbearable hardship. It has stood at the center of the world-changing historical developments for hundreds of years: the Muslim invasion, The Reformation, both World Wars, fascism, the Holocaust and Communism.

Sebestyen mixes colorful details and anecdotes about the people, streets and neighborhoods of his hometown with its rich cultural legacy of literature, music, and architecture. He shows how its people have shifted culturally, politically and emotionally between East and West, through many revolutions, bloody battles, uprisings, and wars of conquest won and lost. He vividly brings to life the many rulers: the ruthless early Magyar, Hun, and Mongol chieftains, celebrated medieval kings and princes, Ottoman Turks, and the Hapsburgs, including the beloved Empress Elisabeth ("Sisi"). We also learn about colorful figures in politics, the arts and the sciences, among them Theodor Herzl, father of modern political Zionism; film pioneer Alexander Korda who held court with the director of Casablanca , Michael Curtiz, young reporter Billy Wilder, and photographer Robert Capa in the glamorous New York Café still going today; Edward Teller, inventor of the H bomb; and Countess Elisabeth Báthory, a cousin of the King of Poland, who became a serial killer, among many others.

Sebestyen's compelling history of Budapest is a lively page-turner as well as being uniquely revelatory and authoritative account of one of the most important cities of Europe.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 379-392) and index.

Introduction -- Prologue -- Part one: The Magyars. Aquincum -- The Magyars -- The Khans invade -- The raven king -- The empire strikes back -- Budun -- A Turkish town -- Division of the spoils -- Buda regained -- Part two: The Habsburgs. The baroque -- Gloom and glory -- Language, truth and logic -- The bridge builder -- The great flood -- The ides of March -- The revolutionary war -- A revenge tragedy -- Judapest -- Empress Sisi -- The dual monarchy--victory in defeat -- Budapest is born -- Café culture -- The Hungarian pogroms -- Illiberal democracy -- My country right or wrong -- Part three: The world at war -- The beginning of the end -- Lenin's pupil -- The admiral without a navy -- Marching in step with Hitler -- Madness visible -- The siege of Budapest -- Liberation -- The Iron Curtain descends -- The house of terror -- Revolution -- Again -- Betrayal in Moscow -- The merriest barracks in the camp -- The last rites.

"From the critically acclaimed historian Victor Sebestyen, the enthralling account of historical and cultural events that define Budapest, a unique city on the fault line between East and West in the heart of Europe. Including an eight-page insert of photographs, this book is a glorious homage to an extraordinary city"-- Provided by publisher.

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