George Punka - the Grand Old Man in Hungarian aviation history research - has done it again!

The book - in the usual great squadron/signal quality - gives a superreb overview of Hungarian military aviation from the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy till the very end of WWII.
Due to it's size (64 pages) it will never be "The Bible" of WWII Hungarian Military Aviation, but is still a must in every person's library, who is dealing with the topic.

Starting with a very brief historical time-line of Hungarian history - to set the whole post-WWI situation in perspective - he describes the birth of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in the early 20'es and hereafter examines the RHAF related events of WWII in five chapters: Yugoslavia, Soviet Union, 1942, 1943, and RHAF Over Hungary.
Hereafter he goes over to deal with the different types of planes used by the RHAF. In 8 chapters: Fighter, Bomber, Long-Range Reconnaissance, Short-Range Reconnaissance, Trainer and Liaison, Transport, Captured and Experimental, Mr. Punka manages to touch basically every corner of the RHAF.
Here again he tells the story of each branch of the RHAF, starting with the short Slovak-Hungarian (air)war in 1939, conflict with Roumania in 1940, the Yugoslav campaign in 1941, the Eastern Front and the Home Defence.

Please note: This is not an in-depth work. Hence it does not contain any technical data about the aircraft or detailed organization descriptions.
The main strength of this book are all the B/W(180+) and color(6) pictures, and the - especially interesting for modelers - color drawings (48) of the PLANES and squadron emblems. Further more it also gives the aircraft codes used by the RHAF.

Some of the planes featured in the work: Bf-108 and 109, FW-56, 189 and 190, JU-52, 86, 87 and 88, CR-32 and 42, Re-2000 I and II, Me-210, Bf-110, Ca-97, 101, 310, 135, He-22, 46, 70 and 111, Do-17, 23 and 215, WM 10/13 and 21, Bu-131 and 181, Ar-96, Fi-56, SM-75, PZL P11, Avia B-534, etc., etc.

For historians, this is a meticulous, scrupulously fair account of events in the part of Hungary ceded to the new kingdom of the Yugoslavs after the First World War. For the general reader, it is a harrowing reminder that the troubles of former Yugoslavia did not suddenly flare up in 1990. Indeed, by that time, two of the many national communities in Voivodina had been eliminated altogether: the Jews and the Germans. I was the translator of this book and I cannot imagine a more worthwhile translating assignment. I hope many thousands of people will read it and think deeply about the causes and consequences of intercommunal violence.

Steming from in in-depth research project on the origins of the Hungarian szur, this book is an excellent resource. It provides a great deal of information not only on history, but also on the techniques used to create these traditional garments.

Included are nine patterns for regional variants of the szur, as well as patterns for similar garments from other parts of the world. Also, a number of photographs and illustrations are included

This is an outstanding, very easy to read, history of a little known and understood country and people, the Hungarians, who are NOT slavs nor to be confused with the Huns. I heard the author give a talk at a dinner in Washington, DC, which prompted to read his book. I have not been disappointed. On the contrary, this is the most readable, entertaining history that I've read in years. Lendvai makes David McCullough look like an amateur, in terms of the scope of the years covered and the masterful way in which he writes, displaying a command of significant details and telling anecdotes. Even those with no particular interest in Hungary or eastern Europe would enjoy this book for its style of writing alone. This should be must reading for anyone planning a trip to Hungary.

This recently re-discovered longtime out-of-print work of Imre Josika-Herczeg is a rare precious source of information for historiography. It provides an excellent and concise overview of Hungary's more than thousand-year history and gives a broad historical survey of the essential social, cultural and political conditions that affected this past. It also presents and contextualizes the factors that influenced the internal and foreign policies of Hungary up until the late twenties, just before the stock market collapse resulted in widespread economic destruction and turned politics to rightward direction almost all over in Europe. The chapters on the historical past are a delight to read. These reflect the author's deep knowledge of his subject (he held two doctorates; from Law and from Political Sciences) and his affection to his proclaimed goals: to recall immortal memories of the Fatherland to the millions of Hungarian descendants who speak no longer the language of their fore-fathers and to show a clear picture of Hungarian history to the English-speaking world. The chapters describing the destructive and sad consequences of the Trianon Treaty and the futile diplomatic efforts to revise it in the name of justice are passionate but eminently fair. The reader feels the "soul" of any Hungarian, who lived through that dark moment of history. The narratives are written with an observer's eye and with the authority of a person who is having direct insider's information: he had served years as an officer in the Hungarian cavalry during WW1 at the Russian front, served in the diplomatic corps of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and he was a close friend of postwar Hungary's several leading statesmen, in particular of Albert Apponyi.

If you want to know more about your heritage, or you have a desire to understand your ethnic background or you are just simply interested in the subject, you will enjoy the book. Political or social historians, even those working in Hungary, will find in the book interesting data. Many of them perhaps cannot be found at any other place. These relate to the Hungarian -American relations, to the participation of Hungarian freedom fighters of the 1848 revolution in the civil war and to the early reach contribution of Hungarian immigrants to the cultural development of America.

C.A. Macartney did, what most fellow historians weren't capable of. Either because of professional incapability, or deliberate political intentions.
Macartney presents the history of Hungary leading up to Trianon and the aftermath of it..
He writes about the events as they were in a rarely sober way. Always presenting the topic balanced, not only from one point of view.
The work is about the states, which took over territories from Hungary after WWI. Namely Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia and Austria.
He describes the history of each area and the peoples living there.

Review based on Simon Publications reprint edition August 2001

Dr. Eby balances the human tradegy with detailed historical facts to produce a very readable account of the fate of Hungary during and immediately proceeding WWII. Alot of the book is written in narrative form - detailed accounts of soldiers and civilians personal experiences. Some of the material is tough to read, not due to the writing, rather the brutal nature of subject.

Historians who are familiar with the period, may find a lot of repetition of the historical facts. This is due to the use of narratives - each story stands alone, the reader does not have to refer back to previous chapters.

Dr. Eby is also to be commended for his balance and objectivity. He covers a cast of characters with a very even hand.

The Rough Guide Hungary is a complete paper guide: both practical as well as good in in-depth knowledge. Arriving in Hungary by plane as I did in the Summer of 2000, you feel you have arrived in a country where a completely strange, vigourous and stimulating language is spoken and little else except goodwill. This book has the capacity to guide you into this really foreign country, offering you several possibilities in the above situation, varying from the safe: 'take a cab but fix the price beforehand', to the more adventurous: 'take bus # 93 (red) to the metro terminal and continue your journey to Budapest by taking the blue metro line to the centre of town'. Whatever your choice, I found this is all excellent advice with no mistakes. The guide continues in this reliable way both in the capital and in the country side, but does more as it also describes Hungary's history and culture in its own words, not copying textbooks. Boxes with extra, spicy information are included.

Because this guide is so good on history, contemporary politics and culture, it doesn't cover every village in Hungary, as other guides in the same category and written for the same public do. This one maintains an enjoyable balance between tourist information, background knowledge and girth. Although its electronic variant as seen on Internet is weaker than its direct competitor, the paper variant is second to none, even superior.

Suspense! If you like suspense, this is the book for you!

Ludvik Wieder survived the last year of World War II in Hungary by exploiting the chaos of Budapest as refugees swarmed into that city from their bombed-out countries. Budapest itself became a target for American bombers during the final months of the war. Wieder is a witness to the insanity of the Hungarian SS who left wounded Hungarian civilians to die from their injuries while they continued their pursuit of Jews. Wieder is a witness to the ferocious assaults against Jews that the Nazis committed in Budapest's SS headquarters, where he and three friends were taken for interrogation shortly before the Russians liberated Budapest. Wieder crossed the Danube River to bring food to his parents at a time when that river was the front line in an end game between Russian troops and the Nazis. And Ludvik Wieder testifies to the psychological warfare that the Russians played so well: American bombers came at random intervals. But the Russian planes flew low, dropped firebombs, and arrived at eight o'clock each evening. People on the streets would start running at seven-thirty. By so casual an approach, the Russians were mocking the Nazis as well as killing them.

This fascinating breakdown of sociology is fabulous! You have no idea how fabulous this book is until you read it for yourself! FABULOUS!