THE MIDDLE KINGDOMS : A NEW HISTORY OF CENTRAL EUROPE

THE MIDDLE KINGDOMS : A NEW HISTORY OF CENTRAL EUROPE

Κωδικός: SMTRA-978-0-14-199627-1

Fascinating, masterful ... gems scattered throughout the book Peter Frankopan, SpectatorQuirkily original but also scholarly and authoritative, to be read for pleasure and serious reflection Telegraph*The dramatic history of Europes shape-shifting centre, from the author of The Habsburgs*Central Europe is not just a space on a map but also a region of shared experience - of mutual borrowings, impositions and misapprehensions. From the Roman Empire onwards, it has been the target of invasion from the east. In the Middle Ages, Central Europeans cast their eastern foes as the dogmen. They would later become the Turks, Swedes, Russians and Soviets, all of whom pulled the region apart and remade it according to their own vision. Competition among Europes Middle Kingdoms yielded repeated cultural effervescences. This was the first home of the High Renaissance outside Italy, the cradle of the Reformation, the starting point of the Enlightenment, Romanticism, the symphony and modern nationalism. It was a permanent battleground too for religious and political ideas. Most recent histories of Central Europe confine themselves to the lands in between Germany and Russia, homing in on Poland, Hungary, and what is now the Czech Republic. This new history embraces the whole of Central Europe, including the German lands as well as Ukraine and Switzerland. The story of Europes Middle Kingdoms is a reminder of Central Europes precariousness, of its creativity and turbulence, and of the common cultural trends that make these lands so distinctive.