This housewife turned historian wrote a remarkable book weaving her story from different threads. One is the personal recollections of her husband Leslie Veress, an inconspicuous young official in the Hungarian Department of State of the 1942-43 era, who was part of a resistance group of young diplomats in this ministry, like Domokos Szent-Ivanyi, Geza Soos, Ferenc Vali. He was put in charge of Premiere Kallay's peace-feelers to Great Britain and operated a short wave radio with the British SOE. This is an "eyewitness" account never before told. The subject has been ignored by Marxist inspired Hungarian hitoriography and still is by the post-Communist generation.
Leslie Veress in his exile in England collected the documents generated in Great Britain as a result of his activities on behalf of a dissident Hungarian government trying to extricate herself from the deadly Nazi embrace. This is probably the most unique thread in the book.
Another thread is Mrs. Veress' own account of her life spanning two World- and one Cold War. She witnessed Romanian terror, Nazi, Nyilas, Russian and Communist terrors as it immediately affected her and her family. All this is garnished by a detailed chronicle of political history of the Allied Powers as they prepared the sad fate of Central Europe.
Those interested in anti Nazi resistance in Hungary in particular and WW II politics in general will find the book most useful.

The political thought of post-WWI Hungary was dominated -- no, obsessed -- with the desire to rectify the perceived wrongs of the Treaty of Trianon, which stripped her of two thirds of her territories and most of her natural resources, as well as leaving substantial ethnic Hungarian minorities in the detached lands. This obsession, together with a well-founded dread of Stalinism, rather than any general sympathy for National Socialism, gravitationally pulled Hungary into the Axis orbit. Almost from the start of WWII, Hungary sought to minimize its direct involvement and maximize its room for independent policy. This included opening overtures to the Western Allies to negotiate a secret surrender. This book, begun by the principal actor in the negotiations, largely written by his widow, and completed by their daughter, deftly sketches the background to a tale filled with intrigue, daring, and narrow escapes worthy of a spy novel. The negotiations proved futile when the Italian campaign bogged down and Churchill's desire to open a Balkan front was overruled by Stalin and Roosevelt. This forced the Hungarians to submit to Soviet power and led to over 40 years of political captivity. The romantically unrealistic world view of the Hungarian political establishment comes out poignantly in this memoir. There is some special pleading, but it is outweighed by the value of a fresh perspective on a small country caught in anguishing pressure between superpowers.

Clear the Line is a moving account of a sadly missed opportunity in mid-century history; and it also contains fascinating nuggets of autobiography as far back as 1914. I started to read the book at half past five on Tuesday afternoon, thought I had better break off to get myself an evening meal at what I assumed to be about eight o'clock--and found that it was by then five to ten!! I had been totally absorbed in the book. Dalma Takacs has done a splendid editorial job.I was especially pleased to read the extract from Aylmer Macartney's 9 December 1941 broadcast, which I have not seen in print before. I am delighted to have such a memorable book on my library shelves.

Gyorg Ligeti is perhaps the most interesting, and chameleonlike member of the European avant-garde. Not bounded by ideology, Ligeti's music has morphed through nationalism, colorism, avant-garde 60s dadism, minimalism and post modernism without ever loosing it's essential identity. Ligeti is a composer who knows who to control his style, not let his style control him. And his life is as compelling reading as any composer in recent history.

Toop based his book on extensive interviews with Ligeti himself. As Toop admitted, the composer was fairly open about his early years and the chapters on life under first National Socialism and then Communism are harrowing...really compelling reading. WWII is widely believed to have had a fairly strong effect on the post war serialists, but none more than Ligeti, both as a jew and then as an avant-garde composer in communist Hungary. This horrific early life can be heard reflected in the composer's works particularly in the Requiem...and in his distrust of ideology, whether political of musical.

The Toop book is a good introduction to the life of Ligeti the man and a decent descriptive survey of his music, but to me it falls behind on two points...one is not the fault of the author but the other I believe is. The author states in his introduction that Ligeti essentially clammed up in interviews about the composer's later life. Toop didn't pry, so the vivid portrait that we get of Ligeti's early years...up till about the 60s, drys up later in the book. Except for a few tantalizing hints of a personal life, you see nothing of Ligeti the person. This would bother me less if it weren't for the other larger flaw. The author is quite descriptive in his writings about Ligeti's music, but not really meaty. The musical portions of the book read like program notes, not real analysis. In fact, there is not a single musical example in the book. I don't think this is a problem for the general reader. If you just want to know more about Ligeti and a quick introduction to his complete works, this book is fine, in fact, it is probably perfect. But for the serious student who wants to understand Ligeti's style, this is a bit of a disappointment.

All in all, this is a good book as a layman's introduction to the composer. It is better than all current competition. But there is a new Ligeti book in the works which looks more scholarly. I will eager await that one as a supplement to this.

"...he distrusts all systems and ideologies." So says Toop of Ligeti, and at this point it seems that Ligeti is likely to be seen retrospectively as the greatest composer of the so-called "Darmstadt Circle" that included Boulez, Stockhausen, Xenakis, Nono and others. This is an excellent book on Ligeti's music -- don't expect much on his personal life, and you won't be disappointed, although there is some on his days in Hungary and early days in Germany following the October 1956 revolution, and Ligeti's flight with girlfriend and baby boy from Budapest to Vienna. The graphic design is excellent, and the thick art-quality pages facilitate loads of great photos.

Ligeti's participation in the revolutionary fervor of the avant-garde of the late 40s and early 50s, his breakthrough to micropolyphony of the late 50s and 60s ("Apparitions," "Atmospheres," "Lux Aeterna," "Aventures," and other compositions, several made famous by their use on the film "2001"), and his later turn to a postmodern incorporation of classical elements as well as non-Western musics, are all covered thoroughly by Toop. Ligeti is one of the most creative composers of the late 20th century, and one of the wittiest. Like Beckett, his work is somehow simultaneously bleak and hilarious. Toop has written a great introduction.

For a good while this book is very difficult to put down. It sags a bit toward the middle, then picks up again. Sounds as if I'm describing a novel, I know, but much of this book does seem like one. On the other hand, I appreciate the author's deep professional knowledge of music and his telling descriptions of Ligeti's music. Ligeti lovers will also want to read GYORGY LIGETI IN CONVERSATION.

Extremely interesting and informative insight into a fascinating (time)...Much insight into the character of A.Hitler ( and friends)..As an amateur historian i learned much I didnt know..The author wrote without prejudice(s) and merely presented facts..The opinions should be left to the reader...If your interested in this subject you will enjoy the book...

this book is not only incredible for its meticulous detail and unknown information about hitler but its also a social discourse on life in general of the old hapsburg empire and vienna at the turn of the century.the fact that this man was a bum who almost died of sickness and spent a few years sleeping in doorways and parks and was very close to starving but survived to be master of not only a country but a continent and almost the world is just further proof that fact is indeed stranger than fiction. stories about his adventures with many friends who were jewish is astonishing and in direct contradiction to his rantings in mein kampf where he liked to say he became an ant semite in vienna. its not true and suggests that hitler was only bieng an anti semite because it was politically advantageous in a land where anti semitism was widespread. if that is true that makes him even scarier. he was a close friend of a jew named joseph nueman and many of the mens homes he lived in were run by jews. he only liked to do business with jews and it was a jew who helped him from freezing to death by giving him a coat and many jews bought and sold his paintings for him.a very engrossing book for anyone interested in the subject of what shaped hitlers thinking

This is a book which gives the reader uncommon insight into what could well be the unseen fermenting origins of the most evil mastermind and destroyer in human history(Adolf Hitler). This detailed account of the degenerate class of life in which Hitler resided at the start of his manhood encompasses a curious mixture of the little-known facts about his obscure poverty, in stark contrast to the series of events revolving around Vienna which led directly to World War I. A positive aspect of this interesting work is the fact that as we witness the tramp and the homeless Hitler, his life is told without omission of detail, and most importantly, it is told independent of any direct comparison to the future leader who would eventually come to rule the Third Reich. A must for those who crave the hidden details beneath the ordinary texts.

This is an excellent resource for history buffs, model makers, or simply decendents of Hungarian immigrants like myself wishing to hear their side of the WWII conflict. The book contains actual factory design specs of aircraft built under German license in Hungary, as well as the most complete and detailed account of air units and unit emblems yet seen. As an avid hobbist I found this book an incredible resource for accuracy in details that were previously kept silent under the shadow of Communism. Mr. Punka has succeded once again with his painstaking research. Koszonom Punkaur!

If you are interested in military aviation during WWII this is the book for you!
Especially if you have an interest for those smaller air forces, which are often forgotten beside the Luftwaffe and the RAF. Even more interesting, if you are after more rare types of aircraft, mainly German and Italian. If you are interested in the Hungarian Air Force during WWII you simply can not afford to miss this beautiful book!

As usual, when George Punka does something, it can only be good!
So it is this time also! Mr. Punka - and his two excellent fellow authors - collected and contrencated information, data and pictures/drawings in this book, which until now were only available in several different and sometimes hard to get and/or expensive volumes. For the English reader a further advantage is that it is in English. The above mentioned works are mainly in Hungarian.

Today - at last - the true story of the >Royal< Hungarian Air force can be told freely, without the vilification of the personnel and degradation of their achievements on especially the Eastern Front.

For someone new in the field or a person with peripheral interest in the RHAF this book could be the only one necessary to own.
For modelers it is a Mekka of color paintings, rare B/W photographs and line drawings - all in excellent quality!
For the rest of us "RHAF-geeks" (sometimes seasoned with modeling interests) this is "just" another great book on the topic; a kind of fast fact-finder.

Every corner of the RHAF is covered in the book, with lots of technical info about aircraft, their markings & camouflage (color (16p.) and B/W (15p), unit emblems, names and designation of units incl. complete maintenance markings of the - Hungarian produced - Me-210 Ca-1. There are combat records, aircraft codes all the way from 1920 to 1945, aces, formation terms of the RHAF, etc.

The chapters: #1:FOUNDATIONS: The beginnings of the independent Hungarian air force (In the ranks of the army, The Trianon Peace Treaty); #2:The Secret Air Force (1922-1927, 1928-1938); #3:IN THE OPEN: The Air Force as a branch of the military services (1938-1940, Conflict with Slovakia, Mobilization - the Transylvanian Crisis); #4:WORLD WAR II: The battles on the Serbian an Soviet Fronts in 1941 (6th April 1941, A Fateful Decision, The Eastern Front: 1942, 1943: Disaster on the Don); #5:HUNGARY BECOMES A BATTLEFIELD: The MKHL on the Eastern Front in 1944 (Air war over Hungary, The last days, The Reckoning, The Fighter Aces)

(Review based on 1996 Hikoki Publication Edition)

OK, admittedly if you're not either a history buff, aviation nut or Hungarian, this one may have limited appeal for you. But if you are any of the above, this one is a gem. So little attention is paid to the "other" side of this conflict that it is easy to forget the many facets of WWII.

The pictures are terrific and obviously painstakingly assembled. The text also provides a brief insight into this hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned force. Caught in the maelstrom of war around them, most of these pilots strove to do no more than defend their homes from allied bombers.

A nice change of pace from the usual WWII printed fare.

If you hate women you're gonna love this book. Fust's jealosy will leave you Hungary for mor

Basically the character study of an insecure person. I found it quite interesting. Captain Storr's obsessive jealousy is truly self-destructive. Altogether very human as well. An interesting aspect overall is that it is written from the perspective of Captain Storr himself, so the reader has no direct hint as to whether Storr's suspicions about his wife are well founded. One can only guess from what is presented about Storr's character--a simple minded, somewhat socially inept one. It seems that he is fighting a battle without a real enemy. I highly recommend it!

The Story of My Wife is an in depth psychological exploration of an insecure character. In a few words, it is about the paralysis (or self destruction) of Captain Storr, caused by his obsessive jealousy. An interesting aspect of the book is that it is narrated by Storr himself. The reader has no direct evidence as to whether Storr's jealousy is justified or not. Storr's obsessive character, his irrationality, his mistakes (however destructive in the end) are altogether very human. I highly recommend this book!

Liptak's memoir compares favorably with Sandor Kopacsi's "In the Name of the Working Class." SK explains his role as the Budapest deputy chief of police who switched sides and aided the rebels; BL offers the view from a student leader's encounters on the pavement below the offices where SK and his counterparts worked to advance the aims of 1956. While SK insists that the revolt was for a purer, worker-dominated type of communism (perhaps akin to an anarcho-syndicalist model) free of Soviet imperialism, this argument dims in BL's account. He gives the points that the students and workers distributed and proclaimed, but the whole question of how the Hungarians' new state would contrast with both the capitalist and the communist systems appears rather muddled in his narrative. Maybe such nuanced planning could not be taken in the heat of the moment, as the Hungarians struggled in a few days to drive out the Soviets.

Where it excels is in simply telling it like it was: the hunger, the generosity, the giddy sleeplessness, the state of his corduroy jacket, the grease-slicked rifle he hoists. You become so caught up in his vivid descriptions that you wonder why so little about this revolution has reached the West in easily accessible form. His footnotes add valuable details about the fate of his fellow revolutionaries and the mental framework of a "typical" young man hearing the demands of the leaders for the first time at the university conveys itself here unforgettably.

As well, the emotion of encountering liberating and opposing troops in the street, the fear of entering the AVH (secret police) headquarters and the shock of what he and his fighters find there, and the sheer amateur heroics coming up against the jolt of a Soviet muzzle at one's neck makes for an honest re-creation of what Liptak and his young fighters encountered as the counter-attacks flattened the idealistic students waiting for NATO to arrive. Liptak, to his credit, narrates all of the conflicting emotions that result once these guerrillas faced the Soviet troops--some in the latter's ranks thought that they faced the Nazis or Israelis on the Suez Canal!

Liptak clearly tells how the Suez crisis overshadowed the Hungarian revolt--and how the Hungarians believed that the West engineered it to distract the world from the revolt. Also, Liptak reminds us of Eisenhower's upcoming election, and why Ike might have wanted to avoid the issue of sending aid to Budapest as he faced re-election.

A couple of points that would have benefitted from more in-depth analysis: first, the role of the CIA in infiltrating the National Student Association and the Hungarian students assisted in their education after they fled to the US is not mentioned. As one who participated in this process, Liptak, given his smarts, either keeps silent out of loyalty or ignores the pressures faced by these students to spy for the CIA as perhaps tangential to his own story. Still, given the importance of this whole event of the 1956 rebellion in Cold War terms, Liptak's silence on this topic surprises me.

Second, the lack of comparative bibliographical references appears to weaken the wider impact of his testimony. Why does BL not mention SK's own memoirs, published about a decde earlier in North America? I'd be interested in what BL thinks about the previous work, and other first-person accounts and third-person studies of 1956 and its aftermath. He does not fit his own detailed account into any broader tradition of such narratives.

Overall, Liptak's account, in its verve and freshness, remains worthwhile reading and I recommend it as one non-fiction book that kept me up late in the night to finish it! Inevitably, all of our own individual accounts rely upon our own limits of evaluation and Liptak does present the tale at its heart as one from "Ocsi," his younger self. But the older self might have stepped into the conclusion and presented how he had changed and evolved in his historical understanding of the events which his younger self helped shape. Maybe a sequel is in order?

Very engaging, thoughtful and critically reflective personal story about being a major participant in the Hungarian revolution. The book is well written and moves along quickly. What I gained most from the book is an understanding of the emotions, values and personalities of the "revolutionaries." The insights provided could only be done by someone who was there and had to make the choices. And, to understand the context of those choices, the author gives us his perspective on Hungarian history.

I read Liptak's book with particular interest because, based on the first-hand experiences of the eyewitness and the participant, it gives an excellent and authentic insight into the Revolution and events leading up to it. I have had a personal interest because, within my means and circumstances, I was one of the Revolution's chroniclers, if not its participant. As an announcer, then reporter, at the Voice of America, I had often broadcast the speeches and statements of Eisenhower and Dulles, promising that "If you liberate yourselves, we will be with you." With my youthful naiveté and enthusiasm I, too, believed them. I believe it is safe to say that in November 1956, my generation lost its political innocence.

Other reviews here summarize the plot, so I'll go with personal reaction here. Kosztolanyi is one of my favorite authors from anywhere in the world. This novel doesn't get highest marks, though. My chief objection is that the climactic murder doesn't seem sufficiently motivated (I have the same problem with the regicide in Macbeth). Mrs. Vizy is picky and cruel and frankly just a bit weird, but there's never a sense that Anna is in a situation she can't escape from, and the lack of tension kills the climax. Mrs. Vizy isn't intentionally malicious, I don't think. It seems Anna's willingness to serve is as much the problem as the Vizy's demands. Her affair with Jancsi goes much the same way: she has ample opportunity to avoid it. But she seems to go along, simplemindedly. I ended up with less sympathy for her than I might have. I may be missing the point; if you understand this better than I do I'd like to hear from you.
That aside, I'm sure this book will get you thinking about the intricacies of the master-servant relation, sort of like the recent movie Gosford Park did, actually. It also got me thinking about control issues in theology. There's no doubt if you can convince a couple of friends to read it you'll have plenty to talk about. The prose is great as always (Kosztolanyi should be called the Hungarian Hemmingway) and it's a neat peek into recent history, too.
On a textual note, Anna isn't the same as Anya, but it's close enough to have connotations, and the author makes it explicit by having young Bandi mispronounce her name as Anya.
Among Kosztolanyi novels I like Pacsirta (Skylark) better than this one; the short stories are absolutely the best, though.

Anna Edes "Sweet Anna" and not "Sweet Mother" as someone has translated is a shocking story of a young maid. She is shy, quiet and hard-working and nobody seems to realize that she has feelings just like everyone else in the house or probably more feelings than the family she is surrounded by. As she is continously hurt emotionally by several people and taken advantage of physically she commits a horrible deed. She can not deal with it all in any other way. It is a shocking story. Kosztolanyi provides us with a psychological case study in just a short story. He does a wonderful job at it.

The main character Anna Edes, or "Sweet Mother" (anya edes) is the perfect maid. she expresses restraint of all of her desires, eating, stealing, and sex, but what will come of this suppression? Something that will blow your mind! It is a must read! Kosztalany is brilliant!

The Army of Francis Joseph is a scholarly examination of the Hapsburg (Austrian) army during the period 1815-1918. This army was primarily designed to safeguard the stability of the Hapsburg Dynasty and during this period, the Dynasty was primarily reflected in the 68-year reign of the Emperor Francis Joseph. Gunther E. Rothenberg, a professor at Purdue University, is an acknowledged expert on the Austrian military and he has unearthed a wealth of information from Austrian archives about this heretofore-neglected army. Furthermore, the examination of Austria-Hungary's security situation from 1867-1914 is critical in understanding much of the political and military background to the First World War. Rothenberg concludes that in the end, while the Hapsburg army was never among the best armies in Europe, it fought hard and did it's professional duty to the dynasty despite difficult circumstances.

The Army of Francis Joseph consists of fourteen chapters and an epilogue. The author also provides a detailed list of sources and endnotes. However, the lack of any maps, charts or photographs does not make this a "user-friendly" book. For example, while the author provides considerable data in the text on important items like Austrian military budgets, army strengths, and ethnic composition of the military, he does not compile this information into tables or charts. Thus if the reader wants to determine how Austrian military spending changed over the 19th Century or the army demographics changed, one must be prepared to flip a great many pages and keep a notepad handy. While the author's intent was an organizational study rather than a campaign history, a few maps of the main campaign areas would have been appreciated. Professor Rothenberg went to a great deal of effort to assemble this fine study, but it is unfortunately not well packaged. Furthermore, the middle part of the book - which mostly concerns Hungarian nationalist agitation and the establishment of the Dual Monarchy - is extremely tedious and slow. Essentially, this book is not for novices and should only be read by someone with considerable background and interest in this period. That being said, this book is also indispensable for understanding Austrian participation in the First World War.

Reading Rothenberg's book, it is hard to feel sorry that the Hapsburg Dynasty and its army were consigned to the dustbin of history. The Army High Command was typically over-age and almost suicidal in its resistance to doctrinal or technological innovation. The leadership resisted the creation of an effective general staff organization despite being taught hard lessons by the Prussian General Staff in the disastrous Six Weeks War of 1866. New technologies, such as breech-loading rifles, modern artillery, and aircraft were consistently denied funds and approval. In one instance, the aged Emperor Francis Joseph stated that armored vehicles would never have any military value after a prototype spooked his horse at a demonstration. Indeed, despite the well-known construction of a handful of super-heavy artillery pieces by the Skoda firm, the Hapsburg army never relied on technological or doctrinal innovation for its combat power. Instead, the Hapsburg leadership maintained an antiquated fixation on bayonet attacks and massed cavalry charges up to the start of the First World War. The emphasis on physical bravery did produce a tough army that was able to endure a steady diet of defeats in most of its wars, but the Hapsburg army had very few victories to its credit during this period.

Rothenberg's book also sheds much light on neglected aspects of 19th Century military history, such as the suppression of the Revolutions of 1848, which hit Austria hard and required nearly two years to fully subdue. The Austrian occupation of Bosnia in 1878 was a major operation that cost the Hapsburg army over 5,000 casualties. Austrian leaders like General Conrad, Crown Prince Rudolf and the Archduke Francis Ferdinand also appear in much greater detail in these pages compared to standard accounts. After reviewing the combination of bigotry, idiocy and reactionary attitudes in Francis Ferdinand, few readers will mourn his assassination. Conrad, the Austrian Chief of Staff, is also cut down to size in this account; on the one hand, he pressed for reforms, but on the other hand his actual decisions resulted in one catastrophe after another.

The fate of the Hapsburg Dynasty was inherently tied up with the strength of its army, and this army steadily deteriorated in relation to the other great powers during the last half of the 19th Century. Rothenberg cites two primary factors for this military decline: limited budgets and an inability to fully utilize the empire's manpower resources. During the entire period 1870-1914, Austria-Hungary was spending less than half the amount on defense that the other great powers were spending; Rothenberg attributes this partly to an anemic economy, partly to parsimony by a divided legislature but primarily due to the fact that the army was intended for regime security. Indeed, during much of this period the Hapsburgs were more focused on external security missions than matching foreign enemies. Furthermore, the nationalities problem - particularly with the Hungarians - consistently undermined the effectiveness of the Hapsburg army. One of the few advantages that the Hapsburg Empire enjoyed - a large and growing population - was negated by limited conscription and lack of an effective reserve system.

Given the inherent weaknesses in the Hapsburg military system, it is a wonder that Austria-Hungary pursued such aggressive policies in the decades prior to the First World War. The empire was constantly confronted with real or imagined threats of war with Italy, Russia and Serbia after 1870 and Austrian leaders frequently beat the drum for pre-emptive attacks. Germany was enticed into supporting aggressive Austrian Balkan policies well before 1914 and this only further emboldened the regime. Essentially, Rothenberg asserts that the monarchy's leadership sensed that the dynasty's days were numbered and sought to utilize their dwindling military resources to stave off disintegration, although it was this preference for active measures that brought about the conditions for a general European war.

This is probably the best available treatment of the last seventy years of the Hapsburg Army. Rothenburg has in essence waded through an immense amount of material that would otherwise have remained undigested in unreadable regimental histories or official studies, and the result straddles the line between popular historical entertainment and readability. Few books that try to do this succeed, but Rothenburg manages it pretty well, particularly when you stop to consider what a truly esoteric subject he's covering. The real value of the work is, however, not so much in the style- M1A1 military-political history- as it it in the fact that Rothenburg is almost the only modern scholar to study it. While the book itself is a good general guide and outline to the politics and (to a lesser degree) the doctrinal and technical development of the kUk Army, it is an essential starting point for the more serious scholar. The bibliography and endnotes are a goldmine of references, not only memoirs but some archival information that will be useful to the researcher interested in doing work in the field.

this is a truly wonderful book that will appeal to two types of readers. those who want to understand the decline and fall of the hapsburg monarchy will treasure a detailed and lucid explanation of the political and social role played by the army. against the rising tide of nationalism in the 19th century, the army was a source of unity for two reasons. one, the army used force to keep the empire intact. two, the army was a symbol of unity and an institution in which, generally, the various ethnic groups of the hapsburg lands were treated equally. rothenburg does a very good job of explaining how this symbol was able to keep the empire intact, despite loosing major wars, yet how it ultimately succumbed to separatist sentiments, especially those of the magyars.

those who want to understand why the hapsburgs lost three consecutive majors wars (austro-italian, austro-prussian, ww1) will also be enlightened. the hapsburg role in these three struggles makes little sense unless one understands the political role of the army, a point that rothenburg stresses. the hapsburgs were a declining power hopelessly trying to hang on to great power status and this was reflected in the army. the army's failure to modernize and to learn from past mistakes were clearly noted by rothenburg. this failure ultimately led to final defeat in ww1, after which the empire was in such disarray that it could not prevent its dismemberment at the hands of its enemies.

this book is not an account of the campaigns of the hapsburg army. it is, however, a detailed study of its operation, structure, funding, recruiting, and role in the life of the empire during its decline. i highly recommend this book for students of 19th century military history and general central european history.

Fast, entertaining read. Focused entirely on a young boy and his family. More a narrative than a fact filled historical fiction but worth reading. Seeing WWII through the sometimes limited, sometimes seeing larger than life, view of a 8-12 year old child is interesting. Characters are fascinating, realistic and far from perfect. Jozsef fluctuates between innate maturity and the ability to see clearly through situations and adults to childish desire and emotions in a dangerous and desperate time. All facets of people during war are demonstrated here- the villains, saviors and the apathetic. Jozsef's many friends and teachers are hysterical but you sometimes flinch at Jozsef's cruelty.

The self-indulgent, narcisistic nature of the protagonist is the undisguised and tragic ego of the writer laid bare, both pathetic and heroic, in this brilliant if flawed Hungarian novel. An at times gripping, and always informative work, which rightly earned its place in PW's Best Fiction of 1995. An uneven masterpiece which would most probably benefit from a more literate and professional English translation. Nonetheless, the author's distinctively Hungarian, tragicomic voice is still audible despite a rather cumbersome and precious English rendition.

Battlefields and Playgrounds is the last word on humanity's darkest hour. A masterpiece of modern fiction, this novel is more than a novel, more than a chronicle, a memoir, a tribute to victims of persecution, holocaust and genocide. It is a celebration of life in all its glory and vulnerability, a portrait of childhood, human suffering and divine redemption. The exquisite prose, even in English translation is like a latter-day Gray's Elegy, sounding the curfew of Europe's vastest graveyard, with angels' trumpets echoing in the shadow of Death, heralding a last chance for humanity. This book restored my faith in literature, humanity and God. An unmitigated triumph of modern writing. Janos Nyiri's authorial voice rings true in a world ravaged by cruelty, bitterness and injustice. His genius lies in recording the greatest agony and evil, while reaffirming beauty, humor and innocence at the same time. By this life-affirming masterpiece, the author of Battlefields and Playgrounds restores Love, Beauty and Hope as only a child-survivor of the Holocaust can. Battlefields and Playgrounds should be required reading in every home, school, government and religion. An unforgettable book.

First let me say that academically the book is both readable and factual in its content. But I found the book troubling for two reasons. First, Professor Sked writes like an English Lecture. He poses questions which he answers with his own opinions, many times taking other authors opinions to task. Those that he doesn't agree with he speaks of as liberal or extreme or having "missed the point". Secondly as this is a Second Edition,
it should have been brought up to date with information that has been developed over the last twelve years.

As an example of his inability to rewrite his own words (which he takes as sacrosanct) there is an aside that refers to the USSR and the eastern european satellites. He makes a referral to what would happen in eastern europe if the USSR were to go multi-party, hinting at chaos on the terms of Yugoslavia. Where has he been for the last ten years? No chaos, some nations in NATO and others being accepted into the EU.

Lastly, he shows a pronounced weakness in his understanding of military matters. In his discussion of the failure of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution, he dismisses the treatment of other nationalities in the Hungarian Crown Lands as being self-defeating but not disasterous. He especially discounts the Croats. Napoleon, not a bad general, described the Croat Cavalry
as the best in Europe, both for their bravery and ability to endure hardship. He used them as his scouts for his intelligence services and gave them credit for helping to secure many of his victories. They would not have won the was for the Hungarians, but they could have been a thorn in the side of both the Austrians and Russians. Instead the helped to defeat the Hungarians at every major battle.

Reading this book is informational, but you must be prepared to spend a lot of time searching around Professor Sked's opinions and biases to get to the facts.

What I am about to type concerning this book will be rather political, so I should make it clear at the outset that the author himself has no political axe to grind. He is simply examining and refuting some common misconceptions about the last century of the Habsburg Empire and the causes of it's fall. If that is what you are looking for, you could not do better than to read this book. This is *the best* book on the subject in English, bar none. If that is your interest, **buy it**, without reservation. Alan Sked's political opinions appear no where in it's pages, which are full of hard facts and strong historical thinking. It is in every way a model piece of historical scholarship.

The reason I see this as a very political text is that the history of the fall of the Habsburgs has been put to ideological use for a long time now. The Habsburg Empire was dismembered by that crusading moralist professor, Woodrow Wilson, in the name of "Democracy", "Progress", and other "enlightened" ideals for which he was willing to kill and send others to die.

It has been argued that the fall of the Habsburgs was a kind of bellwether, proving the inevitable progress of modernity and modern politics over the face of the whole Earth as a reactionary dionsaur of an empire finally died under the weight of it's own anachronism and decrepitude. The author of this book disproves that thesis totally. He demonstrates definitively that the Habsburg Empire was not weak or inept, and that in fact it faced it's worse crisis in 1848, and, having survived that, was viable as a political unit right up until the end of it's life. There was no mass longing for democracy, no mass discontent with the ancient Monarchy of the House of Habsburg, no demand for "national sovereignty" or "self-determination" on the part of the many nationalities of the Empire. They were fiercely loyal to the Monarchy right up until the end of it's existence. The Habsburgs fell, not because of the "turning of the tides of history" against them, but because they picked the wrong side in WWI. Period.

The fact that this is so undermines most of the cherished myths of the modern West. It proves that history has no inevitable current ending up with us, since it shows that the way history turned out was in fact the result of the individual choices of men, rather than the effect of some kind of powerful underlying trend that men could not have shaped. It proves that democratic gov't's are not the only ones capable of being seen as legitimate in the eyes of their people and that a nation of highly cultured and relatively wealthy people (the Austrians) could happily and freely choose to live under a radically different form of gov't, namely a hereditary monarchy. It proves that a powerful multi-ethinc state can be built, if ethnicity is carefully divorced from political power and protected (the Empire of the Habsburgs was virutally a microcosm of Europe in it's vast ethnic diversity). It proves that religion can be effectively joined to gov't - the Habsburg Empire was a confessional Catholic state until the end.

In short, it proves that the supposedly axiomatic modern truths about how politics just has to be are really just so many lies. There was, once upon a time, a strong, viable, multi-ethnic, confessional, hereditarily monarchical empire, that was a living force in world politics right up until the First World War, and that only ceased to be so after it was deliberately destoryed by the victors of that war, who sought to impose their ideology at all costs on the conquered, even if it meant destroying an ancient state and everything that was based on it. We know the results of this well: the wellspring of nationalisms this created has turned the Balkans into a killing field, and it left no strong power in the Germanic world that might have checked the Nazis after Germany itself was raped by the vitorious Allies; thus, the dismemberment of the Habsburg Empire cleared the way for Hitler and every horror to follow him in Central Europe. This was the price foreigners were made to pay so that professor Wilson could "Make the world safe for democracy". No amount of foreign blood is too much, apparently, for the ideals of a progressive intellectual.

This text is truly invaluable for students of the Habsburg Monarchy. It's major strength has to be that it is analytical in style, providing explanations for the decline in fortunes of the Habsburg Monarchy. It is also innovative in that it provides a new perspective on the last century of Habsburg rule. Sked's book is an extremely readable text, which is accessible for all. An added bonus is that it provides a background to the historiography surrounding the Austrian Empire. Even if you do not agree with Sked's conclusions, it will certainly give you something new to think about, and is a useful antidote to the more traditional interpretaions of the Habsburg decline. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough!