Description
Book SynopsisWilhelm von Habsburg wore the uniform of an Austrian officer, the court regalia of a Habsburg archduke, the simple suit of a Parisian exile, the decorations of the Order of the Golden Fleece and, every so often, a dress. He spoke the Italian of his archduke mother, the German of his archduke father, the English of his British royal friends, the Polish of the country his father wished to rule and the Ukrainian of the land Wilhelm wished to rule himself.
Timothy Snyder's masterful biography is not only a reconstruction of the life of this extraordinary man - a man who remained loyal to his Ukrainian dreams even after the country's dissolution in 1921- but also charts the final collapse of the ancien regime in Europe and the rise of a new world order.
Trade ReviewRiotous and engrossing * Independent *
Snyder's portrait of the Hapsburgs in all their eccentricity is a delight...Snyder is exceptional in bringing not only a vast expertise to the subject, but also an elegant style and a gift for narrative * Sunday Times *
As a vivid portrait of a vanished world the book is superb, being both prodigiously researched and elegantly written * Daily Telegraph *
He is one of this country's
most talented and innovative historians of Central and Eastern Europe... I hugely admired
The Reconstruction of Nations and eagerly look forward to
The Red Prince -- Niall Ferguson
Snyder's biography brilliantly baits his readers with a glittering subject * The Times, Books of the Year *
