Genealogy Books - The Habsburgs

Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Poor
Comment: I couldn't agree more with the reader from San Diego. Poorly edited, badly researched, no balance
and uninformative for a fairly well read history buff.

Customer Rating:

Summary: An excellent book on a truly excellent family!
Comment: I found this book to be a superb investigation of the House of Habsburg. Regarding the other reviews
present on this site, the author indicated in the opening chapter that his book was more of an
anthropological survey of the house, rather than just another dry and iconoclastic historical
textbook. Wheatcroft describes the institutional nature of the Habsburg dynasty. Rather than passing
yet another anti-monarchist condemnation on the Habsburgs, he attempts to make the reader understand
the impulses and beliefs of the Habsburg monarchs and princes. This book is a cherished part of my
collection.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Something of a missed opportunity
Comment: Towards the end of the book, the author states that he has consciously chosen to focus on symbolism
rather than on the more usual subjects of Hapsburg history. Fair enough, and the book indeed offers
some insights into how the Hapsburgs saw themselves as reflected by the way they are portrayed in
the paintings and books discused. However, the casual reader who is more interested in the more
conventional aspects of history should be warned: you are not going to learn much about the events
of the times, the individual personalities of many of the Hapsburgs or get much of a feel for
whether particular rulers were good or evil, wise or demented, successful or failures. [And the
blurb on the jacket is downright misleading where it tantalizes you into thinking that you'll get
some entertaining tales of Habsburg eccentricity, such as Juana the Mad touring around Spain with
her dead husband's coffin: Mr. Wheatcroft doesn't discuss that story]. I have to agree with another
reviewer that Mr. Wheatcroft can tell a good story when he wants, and does so early in the book
with that of Leopold III's campaign against the Swiss. For that reason, I think that the choice of
focus represents something of a missed opportunity. You cannot buy this book and, after reading
it, feel that you have a solid feel the history of the times that it covers. You'll have to buy a
second book. If you don't mind that, by all means buy this one too. If, however, you want to
buy only one book on the Hapsburgs, you probably would want something else.

Customer Rating:

Summary: good basic overall look at habsburgs
Comment: very good information on the early lineage of habsburgs, that are not covered in modern history. not
a great deal of information of the habsburgs who went on to romania and other parts of the
austrian-hungarian empire through marriage. this book and "Fall of the House of Habsburg" does not
give enough weight to the to the ability of this empire to keep together the balkans for over 100
years. and both books do not address the misery of the splits in the former empire.the current
ethic,regional, and spiritual wars. a decent read, but i hope that a scholar of a/h would write a
positive book on their achievements and its relation to the current situation in the balkans. this
book is a good addition to a library of european history. a good read and another part of what
created modern europe.

Customer Rating:

Summary: This work was very poorly edited.
Comment: I began reading this book eagerly because there aren't very many books in English which attempt to
cover the entire history of the Habsburgs from Rudolf I down to the present. There is much
interesting detail about many of the early Habsburgs, particularly Duke Leopold III.
Unfortunately, the careless editing of the book leads me to distrust much that is presented as
fact. As they say, "The devil's in the details." At least one of the illustrations (a famous
painting of Charles V) was printed in mirror image - a careless mistake. There are several
differences between the dates presented in the genealogical tables at the back of the book and the
dates presented in the text and the illustration descriptions. All-in-all, this is not a book to
rely on for correct details. The author also glossed over the gross physical appearance of the
family members. Emperor Leopold I is referred to by coin collectors as "Leopold the Hogmouth,"
because of his profile on coins of the era, but that nickname isn't in this book. Ever since I
first read of the "Habsburg lip," I have always wondered why paintings of the era depict the
Habsburg men with deformed lower jaws, but the women are relatively normal looking. I suspect the
painters "lied" and the Habsburg women must have been so dreadful looking nobody except their
cousins would marry them. This "alternate theory" of why the Habsburgs only married members of
their own family was not explored by the author. However, some of the narrative is interesting and
flows smoothly, but because the author jumps around so much, interrupting the narrative flow to
present information from other times, the book is difficult reading. Not recommended for a first
read on the subject.

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