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Title: The Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History by Derek Sayer ISBN: 0-691-05052-X Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 28 February, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Czech "Cultural" History
Comment: A previous reviewer is right--this is not a Czech history. But it is the history of how Czech culture has been formed. For that, it is fascinating--For a straight history, look elsewhere. If you are travelling to Prague, it will make many sites much richer--Vysehrad cemetery, the National Theatre, Old Town Square.
Rating: 2
Summary: Misleadingly titled
Comment: The book's subtitle is "A Czech History," but people looking for a general history of the Czech lands will be disappointed. Sayer focuses not on battlefields and parliaments but on art, literature and historiography. He either completely ignores or barely mentions such topics as the world wars, the Munich Pact and the Communist coup while devoting dozens of pages to poets, artists and critics. Thus, despite the rather esoteric nature of Czech history, Sayer assumes readers already know the basics. I guess a title like "The Humanities and Czech Identity, 1620-1960" wouldn't sell as well.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Bright but Isolated Star
Comment: In The Coasts of Bohemia, Derek Sayers tells us how social values are invented and reinterpreted by those with the will and the power to do so, a study of Bohemian history with broader applications. He writes to clarify and contextualize social movements in the Czech lands from before the Hussites to the modern period, but the reader learns late in the book that his passion owes something to the cooperative assistance of his wife, whose father was a professor lost to the world of learning when he was removed by the Nazis as they closed the universities in Czechoslovakia in the 40s.
The book is a bright but isolated star in the realm of scholarship that explains the Czech lands and people to the citizens of the United States. Sayers has a firm grasp on the little things, "the quotidian," that make up cultural identity, but it is his writing style and his ability to weave small points into major themes that makes the book such a masterpiece.
I note with mixed feelings that Sayers works and teaches in Canada. The English-speaking world's gain; America's loss.
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Title: Prague in Black and Gold: Scenes from the Life of a European City by Peter Demetz ISBN: 0809016095 Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Prague: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Travelers' Literary Companions) by Paul Wilson ISBN: 1883513014 Publisher: Whereabouts Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Prague: A Cultural and Literary History (Cities of the Imagination) by Richard Burton ISBN: 1566564905 Publisher: Interlink Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Czech Proverbs (Proverb Series) by Joanne Asala ISBN: 1572160101 Publisher: Penfield Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Budapest 1900: A Historical Portrait of a City and Its Culture by John Lukacs ISBN: 0802132502 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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