Last Days in Old Europe: Trieste '79, Vienna '85, Prague '89

Description

Part memoir, part reflection, this book will bring to life central Europe during the last ten years of the Cold War. It begins in Trieste in 1979 where the embers of the Habsburg Empire still burnt brightly. The second part moves to the darker, claustrophobic world of Vienna in 1985, where the atmosphere of the Cold War seemed to infiltrate every brick of a city hovering between two worlds, and even the most seemingly harmless of culinary establishments masked the game of espionage between east and west. In the third part, the story shifts to Prague in 1989 during the dramatic, intoxicating days of the "velvet revolution" and the long-awaited opening up of the east. Revolution, when it came was from above rather than below- Moscow was far more engaged with events during those turbulent November weeks than is generally appreciated. Throughout the book we encounter a diverse array of glittering characters- penniless aristocrats, charming gangsters, even Amazonian blondes in the service of eastern European spy agencies; fractious diplomatists and disinherited royalty supply a colourful supporting cast. With enormous charm, wit and insight, Richard Bassett recreates through his personal encounters the elegy, farce and tragedy of Central Europe in the last days of communism.

Richard Bassett is the author of the Penguin Guide to Central Europe. He was the Times correspondent in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1980s, after which he was responsible for corporate communications at one of the German landsbanks. His previous books include For God and Kaiser- The Imperial Austrian Army, 1619-1918 (Yale) and Hitler's Spy Chief- The Wilhelm Canaris Mystery (Orion). He once played first horn for a season with the Ljubljana Symphony Orchestra.

If Oscar Wilde was correct that "history is gossip," then Bassett serves up a delicious cocktail of the very best kind-polite, learned, and insightful, merely leavened with touches of history and geopolitics, making one thirsty for more. ... A memoir can breathe life into history, and this is indeed Bassett's achievement as he breathes new life into shattered kingdoms, their now-moldering cast of characters, and all of the fascinating stories that would otherwise vanish with them. -- Kevin J. McNamara * Kirk Centre * Richard Bassett's spirited memoir of ten crucial years in recent European history is full of insights into the last days of two empires: the Habsburg, whose embers he savours beautifully, and the Communist, which he vividly shows us collapsing in front of him. The book is charming and funny, but it has a serious purpose, lightly worn, and a flavour all of its own. -- Anne Applebaum With these vivid, wistful memoirs, he joins the great chroniclers of Europe - the Prousts, Zweigs, Lampedusas, Leigh-Fermors and Bassanis - and shows how some of the things those writers loved persisted as late as 1989. * Economist * Most memoirs by former journalists fail lamentably ... A vastly enjoyable exception to the rule is Richard Bassett's charming, imaginative and elegantly written memoir of his adventures in central Europe, for many years as a correspondent for The Times -- Victor Sebestyen * Evening Standard * As Soviet rule in central Europe collapsed in the late 1980s, newsworthy events, thrilling and poignant, abounded. Many were enriched by the diffident, elegant presence of Richard Bassett. -- Edward Lucas * Financial Times * In the 1980s Richard Bassett was "our man" in central Europe, and a high old time he appears to have had. This memoir of that period and those places is nicely crafted and would happily accompany a bottle or two of Holzpur 2004 spread over a couple of winter evenings. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times * This is a gem of a book ... a charming and engaging memoir of a world now gone. -- Clovis Meath Baker * Standpoint * Eyewitness anecdotes bring to life the complex criss-crossing history of Mitteleuropa ... a very well-furnished English mind, travelling through Europe at a transformative moment in its history with more than a bit of local knowledge -- Annette Kobak * Times Literary Supplement *