The Hungarians

"[A] glorious, immensely readable book."--Economist "A pleasure to read... Mr. Lendvai has done a remarkable job. His book is easily the best history of Hungary in English... What's remarkable is how many extraordinary individuals, admirable and otherwise, we come across in this small nation's history."--Stephen Goode, Washington Times "The writing of national histories is ... justified by the erudition and intellectual brilliance of the [author]. To this one must add, as a special attraction, the charm, wit and healthy cynicism of The Hungarians."--Istvan Deak, Times Literary Supplement "[R]ewarding, entertaining, and well written... [F]ar more substantial than the witty musings to be found, for example, in Luigi Barzini's The Italians... No one who is interested in Hungary should miss reading this book."--Nicolas Parsons, Hungarian Quarterly "An outstanding storyteller. [Lendvai] not only presents scientifically based facts and analysis but also tells the reader a story... A compact overview of Hungarian history, a wonderful collection of biographical sketches and a subtle description of the 'Hungarian temperament'."--Neue Zurcher Zeitung "Excellently researched and masterfully constructed, this should become a standard work... The book reads almost like a novel with historical background... Most warmly recommended."--Die Presse "An exhaustive history of the Hungarian people... The author has written a sympathetic account of Hungarian history. Yet the book also exposes the blemishes along with the heroism... For those interested in the history of a art of Europe that has been shrouded in mystery and cliche, it's a helpful handbook."--Anne Gyulai, The Montreal Gazette "It is history's destiny to stare helplessly as the past's effects on facts have them act no differently on our minds and bodies than do fictions. In his loving rendering of Hungary's troubled saga, Lendvai has shown us how our knowledge and memory are a tangle of both threads."--Norman Madarasz, The European Legacy

Paul Lendvai is a leading European journalist and a senior television commentator with ORF, the Austrian public broadcasting corporation. Since 1973 he has been editor in chief and copublisher of the Vienna-based international quarterly Europaische Rundschau. The recipient of numerous prizes for his writings and journalism, he is the author of ten books, including Blacklisted: A Journalist's Life in Central Europe (St. Martin's), Eagles in Cobwebs: Nationalism and Communism in the Balkans, and Anti-Semitism without the Jews: Communist Eastern Europe (both Doubleday).

Foreword to the English Edition page xiIntroduction 11."Heathen Barbarians" overrun Europe: Evidence from St Gallen 72.Land Acquisition or Conquest? The Question of Hungarian Identity 123.From Magyar Mayhem to the Christian Kingdom of the Arpads 274.The Struggle for Continuity and Freedom 385.The Mongol Invasion of 1241 and its Consequences 496.Hungary's Rise to Great Power Status under Foreign Kings 627.The Heroic Age of the Hunyadis and the Turkish Danger 758.The Long Road to the Catastrophe of Mohacs 869.The Disaster of Ottoman Rule 9410.Transylvania-the Stronghold of Hungarian Sovereignty 10611.Gabor Bethlen-Vassal, Patriot and European 11412.Zrinyi or Zrinski? One Hero for Two Nations 12613.The Kuruc Leader Thokoly: Adventurer or Traitor? 13714.Ferenc Rakoczi's Fight for Freedom from the Habsburgs 14515.Myth and Historiography: an Idol through the Ages 15516.Hungary in the Habsburg Shadow 16017.The Fight Against the "Hatted King" 17718.Abbot Martinovics and the Jacobin Plot 18319.Count Istvan Szechenyi and the "Reform Era": the "Greatest Hungarian" 19120.Lajos Kossuth and Sandor Petofi: Symbols of 1848 20621.Victories, Defeat and Collapse: the Lost War of Independence, 1849 22222.Kossuth the Hero versus "Judas" Gorgey: "Good" and "Bad" in Sacrificial Mythology 24223.Who was Captain Gusev? Russian "Freedom Fighters" between Minsk and Budapest 26024.Elisabeth, Andrassy and Bismarck: Austria and Hungary on the Road to Reconciliation 26625.Victory in Defeat: the Compromise and the Consequences of Dualism 28126.Total Blindness: The Hungarian Sense of Mission and the Nationalities 29927.The "Golden Age" of the Millennium: Modernization with Drawbacks 31028."Magyar Jew or Jewish Magyar?" A Unique Symbiosis 32929."Will Hungary be German or Magyar?" The Germans' Peculiar Role 34830.From the Great War to the "Dictatorship of Despair": the Red Count and Lenin's Agent 35631.The Admiral on a White Horse: Trianon and the Death Knell of St Stephen's Realm 37332.Adventurers, Counterfeiters, Claimants to the Throne: Hungary as Troublemaker in the Danube Basin 38933.Marching in Step with Hitler: Triumph and Fall. From the Persecution of Jews to Mob Rule 40634.Victory in Defeat: 1945-1990 42735."Everyone is a Hungarian": Geniuses and Artists 466Summing-up 504Notes 508Chronology of Significant Events in Hungarian History 533Index 557