Description
Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2013
Funny, erudite, frequently irritating . . . and never boring Sarah Bakewell, Financial Times
An excellent, rich and amusing read The Times, Book of the Week
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.
Danubia plunges the reader into a maelstrom of alchemy, skeletons, jewels, bear-moats, unfortunate marriages and a guinea-pig village. 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. Joining Germania and Lotharingia in Simon Winder s endlessly fascinating retelling of European history, Danubia is a hilarious, eccentric and witty saga.
About the Author
Simon Winder is a British writer. He is the author of several books, including a trilogy of books on the history of Central Europe: Germania, Danubia and Lotharingia. The second book in the trilogy, Danubia, which deals with the Habsburg monarchy, was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.
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