A History of Hungary: Millennium in Central Europe

This impressive survey provides a comprehensive, intelligently argued and clearly written overview of the rich history of Hungary. Overshadowed by the more powerful Ottoman, Habsburg, Nazi and Soviet empires, Hungary's story is one of foreign domination punctuated by romantic but doomed revolts that, in 1848 and 1956, made Hungary the standard-bearer of freedom in the eyes of a rapt world. Kontler, a history professor at the Central European University in Budapest, tells this story in a brisk but detailed narrative that takes readers from Hungary's ancient origins to its present-day transition to democracy and struggle to find a place in the post-Communist European order. But he goes well beyond kings-and-battles political history to examine broader social, political and economic issues: the tension between Hungary's economic backwardness and its cultural and political affinity to the West; the difficulties of transforming a peasant society into a modern industrial economy; and the struggle to accommodate the competing nationalist aspirations of a multi-ethnic state within a liberal political order. These are important themes not just of Hungarian but of European history as a whole, and the author's searching discussions illuminate them in profound ways. Kontler's thorough scholarship, thoughtful analysis and skillful storytelling will impress students, academics and history buffs alike.