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Loading... The Golden Maze: A Biography of Pragueby Richard Fidler
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I had no particular prior interest in a history of Prague, but having read a review I picked up a copy of this and was not disappointed. I have no basis on which to judge whether it is academically accurate but there are many footnotes and a long bibliography. It was very readable and interesting. Big Ship 7 January 2021 no reviews | add a review
In 1989, Richard Fidler was living in London as part of the provocative Australian comedy trio The Doug Anthony All Stars when revolution broke out across Europe. Excited by this galvanising historic, human, moment, he travelled to Prague, where a decrepit police state was being overthrown by crowds of ecstatic citizens. His experience of the Velvet Revolution never let go of him. Thirty years later Fidler returns to Prague to uncover the glorious and grotesque history of Europe's most instagrammed and uncanny city: a jumble of gothic towers, baroque palaces and zig-zag lanes that has survived plagues, pogroms, Nazi terror and Soviet tanks. Founded in the ninth Century, Prague gave the world the golem, the robot, and the world's biggest statue of Stalin, a behemoth that killed almost everyone who touched it. Fidler tells the story of the reclusive emperor who brought the world's most brilliant minds to Prague Castle to uncover the occult secrets of the universe. He explores the Black Palace, the wartime headquarters of the Nazi SS, and he meets victims of the communist secret police. Reaching back into Prague's mythic past, he finds the city's founder, the pagan priestess Libussa who prophesised: I see a city whose glory will touch the stars. Following the story of Prague from its origins in medieval darkness to its uncertain present, Fidler does what he does so well - curates an absolutely engaging and compelling history of a place. You will learn things you never knew, with a tour guide who is erudite, inquisitive, and the best storyteller you could have as your companion. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)943.712History and Geography Europe Germany and central Europe Czech Republic and Slovakia Czech Republic PragueRatingAverage:
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Richard Fiddler leads us through a highly readable and often entertaining account of the Czech lands from the earliest times. As we enter the modern era we learn a little of Richard's own experiences in Prague.
While a tiny country, the Czech republic provides a microcosm of what is happening in Europe, as it serves a pivotal point in the struggles of great empires, the development of art , literature and science. ( )