Martyn Rady is Masaryk professor of Central European history at University College London. A leading expert on Central Europe, he is the author of The Habsburg Empire: A Very Short Introduction, The Emperor Charles V, and other books on Hungarian and Romanian history. He lives in Kent, UK.
"The Habsburgs is gripping, colorful, and dramatic but also
concise, scholarly, and magisterial. Martyn Rady recounts the story
of Europe's greatest dynasty that ruled an empire, on which the sun
never set, from Peru to the Philippines. Revealing a key player in
world history for almost a thousand years, The Habsburgs is a
chronicle of high politics and family intimacy involving religion,
murder, incest, madness, suicide, assassination. History on an epic
scale!"--Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs and
Jerusalem: The Biography
"A tour de force. Thorough, accessible and resolutely erudite, this
is the volume that this vitally important subject so desperately
needed. Martyn Rady should be congratulated."--Roger Moorhouse,
author of Poland 1939: The Outbreak of World War II
"Martyn Rady has written a splendid account of the grandest old
dynasty of Europe: the Habsburgs. With wit and firm opinion, he
takes the reader on something akin to a tour of the Wunderkammer of
the dynasty's many-centuries-long career. Including vampires, an
empress's waist size, and cocaine-laced health drinks, Rady's
narrative glitters with apt quotes and telling, often ironic
details. One does not have to agree entirely with his distinct
point of view to recognize that this is an extremely well-founded,
most informative, and highly entertaining introduction to a major,
and unjustly neglected, part of European history."--Steven Beller,
authorof The Habsburg Monarchy 1815-1918
"The Habsburgs were once Europe's foremost royal family. Rady tells
their story with verve and authority, casting a curious eye over
their eccentricities and peccadilloes while all the time revealing
their extraordinary influence and global vision. A fascinating
read!"--Alexander Watson, author of The Fortress: The Siege of
Przemysl and the Making of Europe'sBloodlands
"This is a first global history of Europe's most famous and durable
dynasty, chronicling its exploits with great panache over nearly a
millennium of rule across wide swathes of the continent and beyond.
Martyn Rady writes incisively and judiciously, drawing on much
recent international scholarship in a range of languages to
illustrate multiple facets of Habsburg governance in theory and
practice. At the same time his text is accessible and entertaining,
his ready wit providing a delectable counterpoint to the notorious
humourlessness of so many of the dynasts he examines."--Robert
Evans, Regius Professor of History Emeritus at the University of
Oxford
"A feat of both scholarship and storytelling.... It's not hard to
see current parallels to this story.... In an era of schisms,
America needs a unifying idea of itself as something greater than
the sum of its parts. If the Habsburgs could last for a millennium,
surely a constitutional republic can."--Wall Street Journal
"A sweeping chronicle of the rise and fall of the Habsburg
dynasty."--Kirkus
"A Rolls Royce of a narrative that motors through ten centuries of
history with an effortlessness that belies the intellectual
horsepower beneath the bonnet."--Literary Review (UK)
"Glory, grief, loss - and incest - are all covered in this
panoramic account that makes more sense of the great European
dynasty than its rulers often did."--The Guardian
"Martyn Rady's history of this peculiar family is deeply informed,
elegantly written and a joy to read."--Evening Standard (UK)
"Probably the best book ever written on the Habsburgs in any
language.... Lucid, comprehensive and witty, it is not merely a
pleasure to read but a complete education. Students, scholars and
the general reader will never find a better guide to Habsburg
history."--Times Literary Supplement (UK)
"Rady is a lucid and elegant writer... It is impossible to imagine
a more erudite and incisive history of this fascinating, flawed and
ultimately tragic dynasty."--The Times (UK)
"This admirably compact, exceptionally well-written survey will
probably be the standard one-volume history of the Habsburg dynasty
for years to come."--Library Journal
"This comprehensive account provides an insightful overview of
seven centuries of European history."--Publishers Weekly
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