The Middle Kingdoms

March 20, 2023
Historian Rady (The Hapsburgs) offers an ambitious survey of Central Europe from antiquity to the present day. Focusing on the area “now included in modern-day Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, and western Romania,” with forays into “the territory of today’s Ukraine, Croatia, Switzerland, and the Baltic states,” Rady draws succinct, clear distinctions between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, among other social, religious, ethnic, and political influences, and stuffs the narrative with valuable context and vivid character sketches. For example, he notes that 16th-century religious reformer Martin Luther wrote his “scabrous and funny” sermons to be read aloud, since fewer than one in 10 Germans was literate at the time, and that before Otto von Bismarck became chancellor of the German Empire in 1871, “the only personal ambition he disclosed was to drink in his lifetime ten thousand bottles of champagne.” Rady also introduces readers to lesser-known figures, including 19th-century Hungarian-Croatian politician Charles Khuen-Héderváry. At times, Rady’s exploration of key events, including the 1968 Prague Spring and its crushing by Soviet troops, feels somewhat cursory, but he covers a vast swath of geographical and chronological ground, and his evocative prose renders this complex history accessible. It’s a boon for anyone seeking insights into Central Europe’s influence on the modern world.

Starred review from April 1, 2023

This is an astonishing book that brings together more than 2,000 years of Central European history into a comprehensive and accessible narrative. From Paganism to Christianity, and from the Roman Empire to 20th-century communism, Central Europe contains volumes of divergent and competing events and ideas. Rady's (Central European history, Univ. Coll. London; The Habsburgs) lifetime of scholarship is marshaled to encompass the arts, literature, religion, science, statecraft, and warfare of this region. While immersing readers in this strikingly independent and singular part of Europe, Rady simultaneously demonstrates how, through the lens of Central Europe, accepted clich�s about Western Europe appear nonsensical and must be reimagined. The author makes the case that the history of Central Europe is indispensable to understanding current events on the continent today. Notes, primary sources, and extensive citations make this an authoritative scholarly account, but the author eschews the pitfalls of purely academic writing. Anecdotes, colorful stories and quotations, as well as the constant presence of Rady's wise and engaging voice make this a rare book, equally suited to the realm of niche historical research and popular accounts of culture, history, and politics. VERDICT This is an unparalleled resource for anyone concerned about the future of Europe and the history of its nations.--Willem Marx

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