Last Days in Old Europe
Trieste '79, Vienna '85, Prague '89
$23.45
- Paperback
224 pages
- Release Date
28 April 2020
Summary
The final decade of the Cold War, through the eyes of a laconic and elegant observer.
In 1979, Richard Bassett set out on a series of adventures in central Europe which allowed him to savour the last embers of the cosmopolitan old Habsburg lands and gave him a ringside seat at the fall of another ancien regime: that of communist rule. From Trieste to Prague and Vienna to Warsaw, fading aristocrats, charming gangsters, fractious diplomats, and glamorous informants provided him with an …
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780141979991 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0141979992 |
| Author: | Richard Bassett |
| Publisher: | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Imprint: | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 224 |
| Release Date: | 28 April 2020 |
| Weight: | 168g |
| Dimensions: | 14mm x 132mm x 198mm |
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Critics Review
If Oscar Wilde was correct that “history is gossip,” then Bassett serves up a delicious cocktail of the very best kind-polite, learned, and insightful, merely leavened with touches of history and geopolitics, making one thirsty for more. … A memoir can breathe life into history, and this is indeed Bassett’s achievement as he breathes new life into shattered kingdoms, their now-moldering cast of characters, and all of the fascinating stories that would otherwise vanish with them. – Kevin J. McNamara * Kirk Centre *
With these vivid, wistful memoirs, he joins the great chroniclers of Europe - the Prousts, Zweigs, Lampedusas, Leigh-Fermors and Bassanis * Economist *
A charming, imaginative and elegantly written memoir of his adventures in central Europe – Victor Sebestyen * Evening Standard *
A gem of a book … a charming and engaging memoir of a world now gone – Clovis Meath Baker * Standpoint *
Richard Bassett
Richard Bassett, former Times correspondent in Vienna and Rome, has been an authority on central Europe for more than forty years. His previous books include:
- A Guide to Central Europe (1987)
- Hitler’s Spy Chief: The Wilhelm Canaris Mystery (2005)
- For God and Kaiser: The Imperial Austrian Army, 1619-1918 (2015)
- Last Days in Old Europe (2019)
A former Bye-Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge, he is currently a Visiting Professor at the Central Europe University of Budapest.
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