Meeting at the intersection of faith and history.
Books on Bohemian Europe
All of these books are in print and most are available either through your public library or for purchase on Amazon.
Eastern Europe
From People to Nations, John Connelly - This is a big book that is well worth reading. Connelly is a wonderful writer who stitches together important events and the people involved. It is a masterful telling of the forces behind the formation of ethnic contras we know today and why they teeter between totalitarianism and democracy.
Cafe Europa Revisited, Slavenka Drakulić - Slavenka gives a young person’s take on the aftermath of communism. The vestiges of authoritarian rule on domestic life is both hilarious and heartbreaking. It is a quick read that will help set the temperature for wading into the psyche of Bohemian Europe.
The Proud Tower, Barbara Tuchman - Tuchman is the very readable American historian with an eye towards personalities. This book covers the pivotal fin-de-siècle (1880 - 1910) of both Europe and America. It provides a firm foundation for understanding the creative energy and the reactionary movements that shaped our world today.
Germany - Berlin
Berlin— Portrait of a City Through the Centuries, Rory MacLean - A wonderful series of biographies of people who shaped Berlin. Short essays that help you get a grasp of this vibrant city and its luminous and darker sides.
In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson - A gripping true tale of Berlin during the rise of the Nazis, as seen through the eyes of a reserved US ambassador to Germany and his socialite daughter.
Czechia - Prague
The Last Palace, Norman Eisen - An amazing biography of a building; the Pet Palace. Eisen (former US ambassador to Czechia who lived in the palace) follows the twists and turns of the inhabitants this imposing structure. A great way to understand the past 100 years of Prague adn the Czech Republic. His chapters of Shirley Temple Black, yes that Shirley Temple, are unforgettable.
Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937–1948, Madeleine Albright - Former Secretary of State Albright describes her early years in Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation and World War II.
Snow in August, Pete Hamill - This is a novel that takes place in 1940’s Brooklynn, New York. It is equally about Prague and its Golem, the hero of the book. Movingly told by Hamill, you will not be able to put it down and believe in goodness over evil.
Hungary - Budapest
The Bridge at Andau, James Michener - Michener’s stirring account of the young people of Budapest in dialogue with the Soviet Union. When the winds of freedom begin to blow in the air in 1956 Budapest, the uprising is crushed and a generation lives in the shadow of Communism.
Budapest, Portrait of a city between East and West, Victor Sebestyen, Riveting story by an author who grew up in Budapest. He gives you a front row seat to the drama and energy of this consequential city. A city divided by the Danube is also divided by Ottomans, Reformers, Nazis and more.
Poland - Warsaw, Kraków
Poland, James Michener - Another epic by the great American author. From it’s chivalrous medieval beginnings, down to its Iron Curtain years, Michener unearth’s the character and courage of this borderland country.
Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World, Jan Karski - The author gives his first hand account of gathering data about the extermination camps in Poland and the Warsaw Ghetto. His personal meetings with Churchill and Roosevelt proved fruitless; his truth was to big to digest.
Austria - Vienna
The Hapsburgs: The History of a Dynasty, Benjamin Curtis - Illuminating portrait of the Austrian imperial family that shaped so much of European history (and ruled Hungary for many centuries).
World of Yesterday, Stefan Zweig. Zweig recalls living through Vienna's golden days, World War I, and the Hitler years.