{"product_id":"microcosm-9780712693349","title":"Microcosm","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe story of Central Europe is anything but simple. As the region located between East and West, it has always been endowed with a rich variety of migrants, and has repeatedly been the scene of nomadic invasions, mixed settlements and military conquests. In order to present a portrait of Central Europe, Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse have made a case study of one of its most colourful cities, the former German Breslau, which became the Polish Wroclaw after the Second World War. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe traditional capital of the province of Silesia rose to prominence a thousand years ago as a trading centre and bishopric in Piast Poland. It became the second city of the kingdom of Bohemia, a major municipality of the Habsburg lands, and then a\u003ci\u003e Residenzstadt \u003c\/i\u003eof the kingdom of Prussia.  The third largest city of nineteenth-century Germany, its population reached one million before the bitter siege by the Soviet Army in 1945 wrought almost total destruction. Since then Wroclaw has risen f\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis big, lucidly written and fact-filled book admirably achieves its purpose... Anyone who enjoyed Norman Davies's...\u003ci\u003eThe Isles\u003c\/i\u003e will recognise the same qualities in this book: a gift for broad exposition, a marvellous eye for quirky but revelatory details, and, above all, a willingness to question the categories of traditional history, wherever they may come from. -- Noel Malcolm * Sunday Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eAbsorbing...clear...and persuasive...as even-handed, erudite and enlightening as history can be. * Herald *\u003cbr\u003eMicrocosm tells the story of the city across the centuries. While not neglecting ethnic hatred and folly, the book is a hymn to diversity and cultural achievement. * Economist *\u003cbr\u003eThe city is fortunate to have found such chroniclers as Davies and Roger Moorhouse. * Sunday Times *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48736037732695,"sku":"9780712693349","price":17.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780712693349.jpg?v=1723810470","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/microcosm-9780712693349","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}