A Nervous Splendor

Author : Frederic Morton
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 353 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 1980-10-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9780140056679

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A Nervous Splendor by Frederic Morton Pdf

A National Book Award Finalist A "riveting" (New York Times) look at one year of Viennese life during the twilight of an empire On January 30, 1889, at the champagne-splashed hight of the Viennese Carnival, the handsome and charming Crown Prince Rudolf fired a revolver at his teenaged mistress and then himself. The two shots that rang out at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods echo still. Frederic Morton, author of the bestselling Rothschilds, deftly tells the haunting story of the Prince and his city, where, in the span of only ten months, "the Western dream started to go wrong." In Rudolf's Vienna moved other young men with striking intellectual and artistic talents—and all as frustrated as the Prince. Among them were: young Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Theodor Herzl, Gustav Klimt, and the playwright Arthur Schnitzler, whose La Ronde was the great erotic drama of the fin de siecle. Morton studies these and other gifted young men, interweaving their fates with that of the doomed Prince and the entire city through to the eve of Easter, just after Rudolf's body is lowered into its permanent sarcophagus and a son named Adolf Hitler is born to Frau Klara Hitler.

Author : Frederic Morton
Publisher : Penguin Books
Page : 356 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 1980-10-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : STANFORD:36105017115705

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A Nervous Splendor by Frederic Morton Pdf

Recreates an opulent and ominous period in Vienna's history, showing ways in which public events affected the hearts and minds of the Viennese people and the great artists and thinkers who lived among them.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 1981
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:637859887

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A Nervous Splendor by Anonim Pdf

Author : Feliks Feliksovich I︠U︡supov (kni︠a︡zʹ)
Publisher : Helen Marx Books
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1885586582

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Lost Splendor by Feliks Feliksovich I︠U︡supov (kni︠a︡zʹ) Pdf

Rasputin's is one of the most famous deaths in history. Now, his assassin's thrilling memoir is finally back in print. Born to great riches in the days before the Russian Revolution, and married to the niece of Czar Nicholas II, Prince Felix Youssoupoff observed at close range the rampant corruption and intrigues of the imperial court, which culminated in the rise to power of the sinister monk Rasputin. In 1916, Prince Felix and several aristocratic cohorts killed Rasputin, which more than any other single event brought about the cataclysmic upheaval of Tsarist Russia.

Author : B.R. Myers
Publisher : HarperCollins
Page : 414 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2022-07-12
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781443466356

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A Dreadful Splendour by B.R. Myers Pdf

A wickedly whimsical and delectable brew of mystery, spine-tingling chills and intoxicating romance that makes for an irresistibly fun and page-turning read The bride: The dearly departed. Who could have killed her? The groom: Is there no love lost for his would-be wife? The medium: She speaks to the dead. She’s a fake—isn’t she? The doctor: He swore to do no harm. Did he? The ward: He lives in the house, but will he ever be family? The lawyer: He’s served the family for decades. If there were secrets, wouldn’t he know them? The housekeeper: She runs the house. What has she seen? The maid: She knows all the gossip. What does she have to hide? London, 1852. Genevieve Timmons has made her living posing as a spiritualist to swindle wealthy believers, until one misstep lands her in a jail cell awaiting the noose. Then a stranger, Mr. Lockhart, arrives to make her a peculiar offer. The lord he serves, Mr. Pemberton, has been grieving the mysterious death of his beautiful bride-to-be for six months. Although no foul play was ever uncovered, the young lord is convinced that she was murdered. If Genevieve can hold a séance to persuade him that his betrothed’s spirit is at peace, Mr. Lockhart promises to have the charges against her dismissed and reward her with enough money to start a new life. But when Genevieve arrives at Somerset Park estate, she discovers that the handsome and aloof Mr. Pemberton is anything but the heartbroken lover she expected. Mr. Pemberton then approaches Genevieve with an offer of his own: together, they will stage a séance so convincing it will coax the killer out of the shadows. Attempting to play both sides until she can determine which plan holds the key to her freedom, Genevieve prepares to stage a haunting. But when ghoulish incidents begin to plague the manor, the dogged heroine realizes her tricks may not be required after all. Somerset and its residents are hiding many deadly secrets, and its ghosts could be all too real.

Author : Brigitte Hamann,Thomas Thornton
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 492 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Heads of state
ISBN : 9780195140538

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Hitler's Vienna by Brigitte Hamann,Thomas Thornton Pdf

An exploration of the critical, formative years Adolf Hitler spent in Vienna, this study is both a cultural and political portrait of the city, and a biography of Hitler from 1906 to 1913. Photos and line illustrations.

Author : Alexander Waugh
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 385 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2009-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780747596738

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The House of Wittgenstein by Alexander Waugh Pdf

The true story of a one-handed pianist and the fall of his aristocratic family.

Author : Frederic Morton
Publisher : Plunkett Lake Press
Page : 412 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2023-01-10
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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The Rothschilds: A Family Portrait by Frederic Morton Pdf

In the past two centuries, the Rothschild family has been at the center of great events in Europe and the world, such as the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo and the development of the Suez Canal. In this National Book Award finalist, Frederic Morton brings the family to life, starting with Mayer of Frankfurt, longtime adviser to Germany’s princes, who broke through the barriers of the Jewish ghetto and placed his family on the road to wealth and power, followed by Lord Alfred in London, Baron Philippe in Paris, and many others. “[Morton’s] tale grows fascinating, luxuriating in the social and human details of what happened once the Rothschild tribe had financed England, bailed out the returning French Bourbons, helped Austria intervene in Italy and lent millions to the Holy See itself.” — William Harlan Hale, The New York Times “Hardly a page without sparkle. Morton writes a chromium-plate style... [he] enables the reader to grasp some of the fundamental secrets of the Rothschild success — above all, its endurance.” — New York Herald Tribune Books “Vivid, witty and perceptive.” — Saturday Review

Author : Frederic Morton
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2010-06-15
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781439104644

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Runaway Waltz by Frederic Morton Pdf

One of the most revered essayists and novelists of his generation, Frederic Morton has captured with matchless immediacy the glamour of Vienna before World War I and the storied opulence of the Rothschild family in his bestselling and award-winning works. Now, in his first book in more than fifteen years, he delivers a luminous look at his own unique pursuit of the American dream. Like many Austrian boys in 1936, the author idolizes Fritz Austerlitz, the Austrian American who went to Hollywood and emerged as Fred Astaire. When his family is forced to flee Vienna, Fritz Mandelbaum becomes Fred Morton and immigrates to New York City. Though he does not learn English until he is sixteen years old, Morton nonetheless goes on to succeed as a writer. The author sets out ten scenes from his pilgrim life and his remarkable road to success: from watching a poorly dubbed Astaire in Vienna to delivering apricot tarts as a baker's assistant in New York; from Salt Lake City where as a young English instructor he met Vladimir Nabokov to a Christmas spent with the Rothschilds at Château Mouton. Runaway Waltz is a soulful, beautifully written portrait of one man's extraordinary quest for fulfillment and enduring transformation.

Author : Angus Robertson
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 358 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2022-08-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9781639361960

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The Crossroads of Civilization by Angus Robertson Pdf

"From the Congress of Vienna to the Austria World Summit, the city of Vienna has hosted key meetings on peace to climate action. This is a first-class book about Vienna as the crossroads of civilization and as the international capital." —Arnold Schwarzenegger A rich and illuminating history of the world capital that has transformed art, culture, and politics. Vienna is unique amongst world capitals in its consistent international importance over the centuries. From the ascent of the Habsburgs as Europe's leading dynasty to the Congress of Vienna, which reordered Europe in the wake of Napoleon's downfall, to bridge-building summits during the Cold War, Vienna has been the scene of key moments in world history. Scores of pivotal figures were influenced by their time in Vienna, including: Empress Maria Theresa, Count Metternich, Bertha von Suttner, Theodore Herzl, Gustav Mahler, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, John F. Kennedy, and many others. In a city of great composers, artists, and thinkers, it is here that both the most positive and destructive ideas of recent history have developed. From its time as the capital of an imperial superpower, through war, dissolution, dictatorship to democracy Vienna has reinvented itself and its relevance to the rest of the world.

Author : Alan Palmer
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 378 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2014-09-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780571305858

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Twilight of the Habsburgs by Alan Palmer Pdf

Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Jerusalem, King of Bohemia, King of Dalmatia, King of Transylvania, King of Croatia and Slovenia, King of Galicia and Illyria, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cracow, Margrave of Moravia, Duke of Salzburg, Duke of Bukovina, Duke of Modena, Parma, and Piacenza and so on, another thirty or so titles could be added. Was ever a monarch so festooned as Emperor Francis Joseph? He ruled from the Year of the Revolutions, 1848 until his death in 1916. His empire was the most multi-national state ever. An ethnic map of 1910 shows there to be Germans, Magyars, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Ruthenes, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Italians, Jews, Muslims, Ladins (in the Tyrol) and Roumanians. What is more, even together the Germans and the Magyars constituted a minority. And yet, as Alan Palmer observes no other European monarch 'exercised full sovereignty for so long.' Unlike Queen Victoria he ruled rather than merely reigned. That alone suggests he was something more than the humourless bureaucrat he is commonly thought to have been, and Alan Palmer is successful in providing a more rounded and sympathetic portrait of him both as head of an empire and head of a family. His personal life was punctuated with tragedy: his brother, Maximilian was executed y Mexican republicans; his only son, Rudolf shot himself and his mistress at Mayerling; his wife, Empress Elizabeth, was stabbed to death in Geneva, and his nephew and heir, Francis-Ferdinand was assassinated at Sarajevo. This was the first biography of Francis Joseph by an English writer and was acclaimed when originally published in 1994. 'With great skill Mr Palmer blends in the Emperor's private life with the story of the Empire. . . This is an important book; also an entrancing one.' Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph 'A compelling read' Lawrence James, Evening Standard

Author : Peter Vergo
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : Arts, Modern
ISBN : OCLC:1154564211

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Art in Vienna 1898-1918 by Peter Vergo Pdf

Discusses the origins, growth, and aesthetic values of the Vienna Secession, examining architecture, paintings, and graphics by the association's progressive artists.

Author : Allan Janik,Stephen Edelston Toulmin,Stephen Toulmin
Publisher : Ivan R. Dee Publisher
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : History
ISBN : 1566631327

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Wittgenstein's Vienna by Allan Janik,Stephen Edelston Toulmin,Stephen Toulmin Pdf

This is a remarkable book about a man (perhaps the most important and original philosopher of our age), a society (the corrupt Austro-Hungarian Empire on the eve of dissolution), and a city (Vienna, with its fin-de si cle gaiety and corrosive melancholy). The central figure in this study of a crumbling society that gave birth to the modern world is Wittgenstein, the brilliant and gifted young thinker. With others, including Freud, Viktor Adler, and Arnold Schoenberg, he forged his ideas in a classical revolt against the stuffy, doomed, and moralistic lives of the old regime. As a portrait of Wittgenstein, the book is superbly realized; it is even better as a portrait of the age, with dazzling and unusual parallels to our own confused society. "Allan Janik and Stephen Toulmin have acted on a striking premise: an understanding of prewar Vienna, Wittgenstein's native city, will make it easier to comprehend both his work and our own problems....This is an independent work containing much that is challenging, new, and useful."--New York Times Book Review.

Author : Frederic Morton
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 1979
Category : Austria
ISBN : OCLC:641725794

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A nervous splendor by Frederic Morton Pdf

Author : Carl Richard Dolmetsch
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 1992
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0820314587

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"Our Famous Guest" by Carl Richard Dolmetsch Pdf

Fin-de-siecle Vienna was a special place at a special time, a city in which the decadent abandon of the era commingled with dark forebodings of the coming century. The artistic and intellectual ferment of the Austrian capital was extraordinary: Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Arthur Schnitzler, Theodor Herzl, Gustave Klimt, and Ludwig Wittgenstein were but a few of the figures who lived and worked there. And, in September 1897, into the very midst of this heady milieu, came America's most famous citizen, Mark Twain. Although most of Twain's biographers have mentioned his Viennese sojourn (occasioned by his daughter Clara's musical studies), it has remained an unexplored hiatus in his career. Partly because of impressions created by Twain himself, the twenty months he spent in Vienna are often dismissed as uneventful and unproductive. In "Our Famous Guest" Carl Dolmetsch shows the truth to be otherwise. Upon his arrival Twain found all the doors of the celebrity-mad city, from its literary cafe's to its aristocratic salons, flung wide open to him. The aging writer imbibed freely of Vienna's atmosphere, and the result was a final, astonishing surge of creativity. Among the thirty works that came, either whole or in part, from Twain's Austrian visit were the Socratic dialogue What Is Man?, the "Early Days" section of his Autobiography, Book I of Christian Science, the classic short story "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg," the polemical essay "Concerning the Jews," and, most important, a major portion of the manuscript cluster known as The Mysterious Stranger. As Dolmetsch notes, conventional wisdom about Twain attributes the "bitter pessimism" of these late writings to such factors as his personal bereavements and financial reversals. Rejecting this view as grossly oversimplified, Dolmetsch argues that the transformation in Twain's outlook and writing style owe much to the cultural currents he encountered abroad, above all in Vienna. He suggests that Twain was especially responsive to a peculiarly Viennese blend of nihilism and hedonism and to the "impressionistic" style favored by its writers. In locating these influences, Dolmetsch portrays a Mark Twain far more cosmopolitan and urbane than previous biographical studies have allowed. Through meticulous research in Viennese newspaper reports as well as in Twain's own journals and writings, Dolmetsch reconstructs the writer's visit in breathtaking detail. The narrative sparkles with accounts of Twain's shrewd manipulation of the Viennese press, his involvements in the city's musical and theatrical life, the attacks he endured from anti-Semitic journalists, and even his futile attempts to obtain marketing rights to two inventions by a Polish engineer. In one particularly intriguing chapter Dolmetsch ponders the riddle of Twain's association with Freud (who was then virtually unknown outside of Vienna) and their congruent fascination with the relationship between dreams and "reality." An invaluable addition to Twain scholarship, "Our Famous Guest" is equally compelling for the glimpse it offers of a vanished world.