these just in … 11 March, 2008
Vienna 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna
by David King
by David King
Hardcover $27.50 - 10%
“It would have been more fun to attend the Congress of Vienna than any other political assembly in history. Next best is to immerse yourself in David King’s Vienna 1814, which reads like a novel. A fast-paced page-turner, it has everything: sex, wit, humor, and adventures. But it is an impressively-researched and important story that it tells. There was much frivolousness in the Vienna congress, but it did bring peace to Europe and shape the 19th century; and while the deliberations of the Vienna statesmen took place, the fate of the world hung in the balance.”
—David Fromkin, author of Europe’s Last Summer “Leaders from the world’s five major diplomatic forces–Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia–convened in Vienna in 1814 to found a new order for post-Napoleonic Europe. Historian King (Finding Atlantis) calls it “the greatest and most lavish party in history,” at which delegates “would plot, scheme, jockey for position, and, in short, infuriate each other as they competed in affairs of state and the heart.” King covers the diplomatic wrangling well, particularly over the fates of Poland, Saxony and the Kingdom of Naples. His greater strength is in depicting the personalities and motivations of the key players, such as Metternich’s daring love affair with a baroness and Czar Alexander I’s growing reliance on a German mystic. Despite endless parties, the Congress achieved pioneering work in culture and human rights, including Jewish rights and a vote to abolish slavery. Most important, it established alliances that defeated Napoleon’s attempt to regain power in 1815 and helped “foster a spirit of cooperation that, in some ways, has still not been surpassed.” King’s fine work is not quite as scholarly as the book it recalls, Margaret Macmillan’s Paris 1919, but it is more deftly paced and engagingly written.”
—Publishers Weekly
—David Fromkin, author of Europe’s Last Summer “Leaders from the world’s five major diplomatic forces–Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia–convened in Vienna in 1814 to found a new order for post-Napoleonic Europe. Historian King (Finding Atlantis) calls it “the greatest and most lavish party in history,” at which delegates “would plot, scheme, jockey for position, and, in short, infuriate each other as they competed in affairs of state and the heart.” King covers the diplomatic wrangling well, particularly over the fates of Poland, Saxony and the Kingdom of Naples. His greater strength is in depicting the personalities and motivations of the key players, such as Metternich’s daring love affair with a baroness and Czar Alexander I’s growing reliance on a German mystic. Despite endless parties, the Congress achieved pioneering work in culture and human rights, including Jewish rights and a vote to abolish slavery. Most important, it established alliances that defeated Napoleon’s attempt to regain power in 1815 and helped “foster a spirit of cooperation that, in some ways, has still not been surpassed.” King’s fine work is not quite as scholarly as the book it recalls, Margaret Macmillan’s Paris 1919, but it is more deftly paced and engagingly written.”
—Publishers Weekly
“King does a superb job of evoking the bedazzling social scene that served as the backdrop to the Congress of Vienna. This is a worthy contribution to the study of a critical historical event long neglected by historians. It should be in every European history collection.”
—Library Journal, starred review
The Rain Before It Falls
by Jonathan Coe
by Jonathan Coe
Hardcover $23.95 - 10%
From Publishers Weekly
In the latest from acclaimed London novelist Coe (The Rotter’s Club), the story of two cousins’ friendship is keyed to a hatred that is handed down from mother to daughter across generations, as in a Greek tragedy. Evacuated from London to her aunt and uncle’s Shropshire farm, Rosamond bonds with her older cousin, Beatrix, who is emotionally abused by her mother. Beatrix grows up to abuse her daughter, Thea (in one unforgettable scene, Beatrix takes a knife and flies after Thea after Thea has ruined a blouse), with repercussions that reach the next generation. All of this is narrated in retrospect by an elderly Rosamond into a tape recorder: she is recording the family’s history for Imogene, Beatrix’s granddaughter, who is blind, and whom Rosamond hasn’t seen in 20 years. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Rosamond’s fundamental flaw and limit is her decency, a quality Coe weaves beautifully into the Shropshire and London settings—along with violence. Through relatively narrow lives on a narrow isle, Coe articulates a fierce, emotional current whose sweep catches the reader and doesn’t let go until the very end.
In the latest from acclaimed London novelist Coe (The Rotter’s Club), the story of two cousins’ friendship is keyed to a hatred that is handed down from mother to daughter across generations, as in a Greek tragedy. Evacuated from London to her aunt and uncle’s Shropshire farm, Rosamond bonds with her older cousin, Beatrix, who is emotionally abused by her mother. Beatrix grows up to abuse her daughter, Thea (in one unforgettable scene, Beatrix takes a knife and flies after Thea after Thea has ruined a blouse), with repercussions that reach the next generation. All of this is narrated in retrospect by an elderly Rosamond into a tape recorder: she is recording the family’s history for Imogene, Beatrix’s granddaughter, who is blind, and whom Rosamond hasn’t seen in 20 years. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Rosamond’s fundamental flaw and limit is her decency, a quality Coe weaves beautifully into the Shropshire and London settings—along with violence. Through relatively narrow lives on a narrow isle, Coe articulates a fierce, emotional current whose sweep catches the reader and doesn’t let go until the very end.
The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857
by William Dalrymple
by William Dalrymple
Paperback $16.95
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From Publishers Weekly
In time for the 150th anniversary of the Great Mutiny, the uprising that came close to toppling British rule in India, Dalrymple presents a brilliant, evocative exploration of a doomed world and its final emperor, Bahadur Shah II, descendant of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane. Bahadur, more familiarly known as Zafar, was a reluctant revolutionary: the mutinous sepoys who had murdered every Christian in Delhi proclaimed him their commander, an honor he hadn’t sought. British besiegers took the capital in September 1857, followed by massacre, purges and destruction. Zafar died five
In time for the 150th anniversary of the Great Mutiny, the uprising that came close to toppling British rule in India, Dalrymple presents a brilliant, evocative exploration of a doomed world and its final emperor, Bahadur Shah II, descendant of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane. Bahadur, more familiarly known as Zafar, was a reluctant revolutionary: the mutinous sepoys who had murdered every Christian in Delhi proclaimed him their commander, an honor he hadn’t sought. British besiegers took the capital in September 1857, followed by massacre, purges and destruction. Zafar died five