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
"A sweeping chronicle of the rise and fall of the Habsburg
dynasty."--Kirkus
"A tour de force. Thorough, accessible and resolutely erudite, this
is the volume that this vitally important subject so desperately
needed. Rady should be congratulated."--Roger Moorhouse, author of
Poland 1939
"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)
"Martyn Rady has written a splendid account of the grandest old
dynasty of Europe: the Habsburgs. Including vampires, an empress's
waist size, and cocaine-laced health drinks, Rady's narrative
glitters with apt quotes and telling, often ironic
details."--Steven Beller, author of The Habsburg Monarchy
1815-1918
"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)
"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's Bloodlands
"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 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, 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
"This comprehensive account provides an insightful overview of
seven centuries of European history."--Publishers Weekly
"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
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