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  The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story

 
The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story under Europe in The Books Store
Price: $14.95
Sale: $8.86
 
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Paperback
Author: Diane Ackerman
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Edition: 1 Reprint
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5318350943841
Publication Date: 2008-09-08
Reading Level: 368
 
Description: Amazon Significant Seven, September 2007: On the heels of Alan Weisman's The World Without Us I picked up Diane Ackerman's The Zookeeper’s Wife. Both books take you to Poland's forest primeval, the Bialowieza, and paint a richly textured portrait of a natural world that few of us would recognize. The similarities end there, however, as Ackerman explores how that sense of natural order imploded under the Nazi occupation of Poland. Jan and Antonina Zabiniski--keepers of the Warsaw Zoo who sheltered Jews from the Warsaw ghetto--serve as Ackerman's lens to this moment in time, and she weaves their experiences and reflections so seamlessly into the story that it would be easy to read the book as Antonina's own miraculous memoir. Jan and Antonina's passion for life in all its diversity illustrates ever more powerfully just how narrow the Nazi worldview was, and what tragedy it wreaked. The Zookeeper’s Wife is a powerful testament to their courage and--like Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise--brings this period of European history into intimate view. --Anne Bartholomew


 

  Night (Oprah's Book Club)

 
Night (Oprah's Book Club) under Europe in The Books Store
Price: $9.00
Sale: $3.00
 
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Paperback
Author: Elie Wiesel
Publisher: Hill and Wang
Edition: Revised
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5318092
Publication Date: 2006-01-16
Reading Level: 120
 
Description: In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life's essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel's lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.

 

  The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It

 
The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It under Europe in The Books Store
Price: $25.95
Sale: $15.73
 
Manufacturer: Collins Business
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Hardcover
Author: Tilar J. Mazzeo
Publisher: Collins Business
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.2224092
Publication Date: 2008-11-01
Reading Level: 288
 
Description: Amazon Best of the Month, October 2008: With its trademark fizz and sparkling taste, champagne has long been the beverage of choice for those in a celebratory mood. From the artillery of popping corks on New Year's Eve to the clinking of newlywed glasses, a bit of the bubbly has locked arms with good cheer for centuries. Yet had it not been for the pioneering Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the libation deemed "the wine of civilization" by Winston Churchill might today be available only to the excessively wealthy or extremely lucky. Author Tilar J. Mazzeo toasts the élan of Champagne's Grand Dame with The Widow Clicquot, a fascinating story of the cunning bravery and good fortune that helped build the Veuve Clicquot brand. Widowed at age twenty-seven by the death of her husband François Clicquot, Barbe-Nicole assumed control of her family’s wine business amid the chaos of The Napoleonic Wars. That she became a prominent female leader in a male-dominated industry was one thing; building an empire amid savage political unrest was quite another. With passionate research and true admiration for her subject, Mazzeo pays homage to the beloved Widow from Reims and the remarkable weight her name still carries today. -Dave Callanan

 

  The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British

 
The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British under Europe in The Books Store
Price: $24.95
Sale: $15.70
 
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Hardcover
Author: Sarah Lyall
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Dewey Decimal Number: 941.086
Publication Date: 2008-08-18
Reading Level: 256
 
Description: Dispatches from the new Britain: a slyly funny and compulsively readable portrait of a nation finally refurbished for the twenty-first century.

Sarah Lyall, a reporter for the New York Times, moved to London in the mid-1990s and soon became known for her amusing and incisive dispatches on her adopted country. As she came to terms with its eccentric inhabitants (the English husband who never turned on the lights, the legislators who behaved like drunken frat boys, the hedgehog lovers, the people who extracted their own teeth), she found that she had a ringside seat at a singular transitional era in British life. The roller-coaster decade of Tony Blair's New Labor government was an increasingly materialistic time when old-world symbols of aristocratic privilege and stiff-upper-lip sensibility collided with modern consumerism, overwrought emotion, and a new (but still unsuccessful) effort to make the trains run on time. Appearing a half-century after Nancy Mitford's classic Noblesse Oblige, Lyall's book is a brilliantly witty account of twenty-first-century Britain that will be recognized as a contemporary classic.

"The Anglo Files should be handed out, as a public service, in the immigration line at Heathrow." -Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink

"When Sarah Lyall married an Englishman and moved to London ten years ago, few around her realized she was a modern-day Tocqueville—otherwise they would have been much more guarded. The happy result is The Anglo Files, a razor-sharp, hilarious, wickedly insightful, decidedly biased account of Everything British."— Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair

"Superb social and cultural anthropology by a reporter who has lived among her subjects without losing her sense of wonder for them. Imagine Margaret Mead channeling Jon Stewart and you have Sarah Lyall."—Eric Lax, author of Conversations with Woody Allen

"Sarah Lyall brings all the virtues of the best American journalism, including accuracy, to the task of analysing all the vices of British society, including hypocrisy, venality and hopeless confusion about sex. She will now be hailed as one of England's supreme analysts, preparatory to her being executed on Tower Green."—Clive James, author of Cultural Amnesia

"For years now Sarah Lyall has been the wittiest observer of the English and their curious habits. Now she's written a book that takes her game to an entirely new level. It's funny, it's delightful and anyone with even a passing interest in these strange people should read it." -Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball

"By turns wry, mordant, affectionate, bitter and sweet. I never miss any of her dispatches because, while they manage to remind me why I left, they also contrive to make me feel occasionally homesick." -Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great

 

  Lidia's Italy: 140 Simple and Delicious Recipes from the Ten Places in Italy Lidia Loves Most

 
Lidia's Italy: 140 Simple and Delicious Recipes from the Ten Places in Italy Lidia Loves Most under Europe in The Books Store
Price: $35.00
Sale: $18.22
 
Brand: Cookbook
Manufacturer: Knopf
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Hardcover
Author: Lidia Matticchio Bastianich::Tanya Bastianich Manuali
Publisher: Knopf
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5945
Publication Date: 2007-04-10
Reading Level: 364
 
Description: Who better to take fans on a culinary tour of Italy, than Lidia Matticchio Bastianich? Her new cookbook, Lidia's Italy (a companion to her new public television series of the same name) covers "ten places in Italy Lidia loves most": Istria, Trieste, Friuli, Padova and Treviso, Piemonte, Maremma, Rome, Naples, Sicily, and Puglia. In addition to 140 simple and delicious recipes, Lidia's Italy also offers a short introduction to each locale, featuring cultural treasures not to be missed (as defined by Lidia's daughter and coauthor, Tanya). For the cook as well as the armchair traveler, Lidia's Italy is a rich and satisfying gastronomic journey through Italy. --Daphne Durham


An Exclusive Video Message from Lidia


Watch the video

10 Second Interview: A Few Words with Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

Q: What new recipes, tips, and lessons do you have to share in Lidia's Italy? Did you learn anything new while creating this book and the series?
A: There is so much in the Italian culinary tradition, that it amazes me. Every time I go back to Italy and visit another corner, I learn dozens upon dozens of recipes. And today's consumer is ever more educated about food. Cookbook readers want to be challenged by a recipe, and hence recipes that were once considered too traditional, such as "Bigoli" pasta from the Veneto or "Antico Peposo" braised beef with crushed peppercorns, from Maremma, are sought out today.

Q: What was it like to collaborate with your daughter Tanya to write this book?
A: For me to share and collaborate with my children is the greatest reward as a mother and a business woman. To have my children follow my passion and build upon it with their knowledge, spirit and passion affirms to me that they understand and appreciate my art and passion and want to carry on the tradition. My daughter’s passion for and knowledge of Italian art history is a natural compliment to Italian food and life. It is Italy!

Q: How did you start cooking and when did you know it was your calling?
A: I always loved being around food. I loved preparing and cooking it, as well as growing and producing it. As a child, I helped my grandma Rosa tend her garden, feed the animals and prepare the vegetables, eggs and cheeses to sell at market. I would also stay by her side when she cooked, helping her knead bread and make pasta and gnocchi. For me, touching and preparing food always felt good. I can still recall the silkiness of the pasta dough she made and strive for that texture when I make pasta at home and at my restaurants. Being introduced to food at a very young age, and carrying these culinary traditions with me, I'm sure had a great deal to do with my chosen profession.

Q: What is your favorite dish?
A: I do not have one favorite dish. That is like asking me which is my favorite child. I love them all the same, but for different reasons, and at different times. But if I were stranded on a deserted island, give me pasta for the rest of my life and I would be happy.


Italy with Lidia
We asked Lidia to share her favorite itineraries for a few locales from her book, including Piedmont, Friuli, and Florence. Enjoy!

Piedmont for Wine Lovers
Day 1: Journey through the magnificent rice fields, stopping to visit and have lunch with a producer in Vercelli to learn more about where the essential ingredient for risotto is grown, then slowly move into the hills of Piedmont known as the Langhe and Roero. Spend the afternoon wandering the streets of Alba. In the early evening depart for a visit to the Castle of Barolo for a tour and tasting in its dungeon cellar. Dinner is best at the nearby Locanda del Borgo Antico where the husband and wife team of Massimo and Luciana serve up top-notch Piedmontese food in their home.
Day 2: Tuesday is market day in Dogliani and affords the opportunity to experience a local Piedmontese market. Piedmont is well known for its many types of cheese. Occelli Agrinatura produces some of the best. This morning see their production and taste some of their exquisite products. Continue your morning with a visit to the cantina of a local Barolo producer. Lunch at the country restaurant Rosa dei Vini is fabulous, where locals enjoy authentic home-style meals. In the afternoon return once again to Alba for a dinner drink with the locals in its very active bars and find a good local place to delight in the capital of the truffle.
Day 3: Up at the crack of dawn, out with the dogs, embark upon a truffle hunt. Find a local trattoria and have lunch with the hunters and in the afternoon enjoy the sweeping vistas from the hill town of La Morra. Don't miss dinner at the charming La Contea. With the fire ablaze, Tonino keeps the atmosphere hopping and the food coming.
Day 4: This morning head to the city of Asti and enjoy strolling through the city. For lunch visit the local restaurant near the Braida Estate with a tasting of their production. In the afternoon sit in a piazza and enjoy the local production of Asti Spumante which has earned a bad reputation in the United States, but which has some excellent production in recent years.
Day 5: Depart this morning for the Saluzzo area outside of Torino to see one of the most magnificent fresco cycles in Italy in the Castello della Manta, where nine heroes and nine heroines await your arrival in courtly fashion in fresco. Have lunch in the charming town of Saluzzo and arrive in Torino in the early afternoon. Save the rest of the day for shopping or to experience the wonderful coffee houses that Torino is famous for.
Day 6: This morning learn about and visit the residences of the Kings of Italy: the magnificent Racconigi Castle a short distance outside of Torino and the palatial residence in the city of Torino. In the evening have your farewell dinner at La Prima Smarrita where owner and chef Moreno awaits your arrival.


Friuli
Day 1: Arrive in Trieste and check into the Duchi d'Aosta hotel. Start a historical walk through Trieste starting in Pza. Unita and heading for the canal that ends with the Church of San Antonio. Enjoy an evening drink the Pza. Unita` as the sun sets out on the water and head to Trattoria da Giovanni for a lively dinner.
Day 2: This morning we will depart for the Friulian countryside to visit the production of the important Montasio cheese and Prosciutto di San Daniele. Lunch should be at the renowned Subida in the hills near the Slovenia border. After lunch visit the star shaped city of Palmanova, walk around and stay for dinner.
Day 3: This morning wear comfortable shoes and begin your walk in Trieste by stopping at the roman amphitheater. Keep heading up hill for the Cathedral of San Giusto with the uneven façade and wonderful reliefs. Have lunch in the Carso hills at Savron and then continue towards Muggia and leave time to walk around the picturesque port and old Venetian town of Muggia followed by dinner in one of the regions best restaurants, Risorta.
Day 4: This morning depart for Grado and Aquilea, important centers for Early Christian history. Visit the Churches of S. Eufemia and S. Maria delle Grazie in Grado followed by lunch at Androna. Then continue to Aquilea where the Basilica holds some of the most important and magnificent early Christian mosaics. Return to Trieste in the late afternoon where the evening should be spent relaxing after such a busy day.
Day 5: This morning depart for Cividale del Friuli where you should visit the Museo Archeologico and the Tempietto Longobardo. Have lunch in the countryside at la Frasca before heading to the city of Udine where you should visit the Duomo and the Oratorio della Purita. Stop and see the quaint towns of Gemona and Venzone before heading back towards.
Day 6: This morning have a walking tour of Trieste famous for its pastries and coffee houses. Be sure to visit Caffe degli Specchi and La Bomboniera. In the afternoon visit the very moving site of San Saba, a concentration and refugee camp during World War II, now a museum. On the sade side outside of town, you can also visit the Illy coffee factory.


Florence
Day 1: You should visit the religious and civic centers of 14th and 15th century Florence. The Duomo or Cathedral is crowned with an engineering masterpiece, Brunelleschi's dome. Brunelleschi devised a system of pulleys and weights, chose his building materials and constructed a double dome, all the while looking to the Pantheon for inspiration, to create what was Italy's largest dome. Inside the Cathedral one will find the tombs and frescoes that decorate the interior, from famous figures on horse back to the elevating frescoes decorating the interior of the dome by Giorgio Vasari. At the Palazzo Vecchio, there are the unfinished frescoes by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo that were to decorate the walls. Then head to the first town hall and later prison, the Bargello, a museum that now houses sculpture by some of the Renaissance's most important artists such as Donatello and Michelangelo. Donatello's courageous St. George and Michelangelo's inebriated Bacchus are the highlights. For lunch, keep it light because you should head to Fabio Picchi's Cibreo tonight for dinner!
Day 2: This morning head to Florence's central market, the San Lorenzo market where you'll see specialties of the Tuscan gastronomic repertoire. Right around the corner is the church of San Lorenzo that contains Medici masterpiece tombs by Michelangelo. Michelangelo's muscular and overbearing figures appearing to be sliding off the tombs of Dukes Giuliano and Lorenzo, in their faces shadows of deep significance, the meaning of which scholars today are still uncertain of. Next door is the jewel like family chapel by Benozzo Gozzoli in the palace. After lunch, visit one of the world's finest art collections, the Uffizi Gallery, to see works by Lippi, Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo, among others followed by a visit through the Vasari corridor which was used to connect the Uffizi gallery (or Medici offices) the their residence, the Pitti Palace.
Day 3: This morning depart for the Chianti region and stop at Tuscany's most famous butcher, Dario Checchini, who butchers while singing or reciting Dante's Inferno. Visit the vineyard and cavernous cellars of Monsanto where the Bianchi family will greet you and allow you to taste their wines. Afterwards, visit the terracotta production center of Impruneta, where terracotta has been made since medieval times, and visit an artisan production of terracotta garden pots and wares.
Day 4: Depart this morning for San Gimignano, the town of towers, and for Colle Val D'Elsa, the largest crystal production in Europe, where artisans blow one of a kind crystal in a traditional fashion, a profession that has been passed on from generation to generation. Have lunch at the acclaimed Da Arnolfo and then continue onto Siena, the financial capital of medieval Italy. Visit the Palazzo Pubblico, outside of which the Sienese perform the traditional Palio horse race, and inside of which the Madonna reigns supreme. Marvel at the famous Guidoriccio fresco with its controversial attribution to Simone Martini, the Lorenzetti Good and Bad Government frescoes, and Simone Martini's Maesta'. Then head up the hill to the religious center of Siena, the Cathedral complex, and marvel at one of the most stunningly beautiful masterpieces of the Renaissance, the Piccolomini Library. Then head to the campo square and enjoy a gelato while watching the Sienese meet and their children play.
Day 5: Enjoy your last day in Florence. Head over to the museum of Orsanmichele in the morning to see the original statues by Ghiberti and Donatello and peak into the wonderful building that used to be a marketplace but now is a church. For lunch, enjoy a bowl of ribollita or pappa al pomodoro at one of the trattorias on Borgo San Jacopo. Then head up to Fiesole-up above Florence where the rich and famous live. Have a drink on the terrace of the Villa San Michele while overlooking the Duomo by Brunelleschi. Then enjoy a light dinner inside.


Lidia's Must-Have Cookbooks


The Fine Art of Italian Cooking

The Silver Spoon

Ultimate Pasta

Marcella's Italian Kitchen

Molto Mario

See all of Lidia's must-have cookbooks



 

  The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America

 
The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America under Europe in The Books Store
Price: $25.95
Sale: $15.48
 
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Hardcover
Author: Jim Marrs
Publisher: William Morrow
Dewey Decimal Number: 366
Publication Date: 2008-07-01
Reading Level: 448
 
Description:

Throw out everything you think you know about history. Close the approved textbooks, turn off the corporate mass media, and whatever you do, don't believe anything you hear from the government—The Rise of the Fourth Reich reveals the truth about American power. In this explosive new book, the legendary Jim Marrs, author of the underground bestseller Rule by Secrecy, reveals the frighteningly real possibility that today the United States is becoming the Fourth Reich, the continuation of an ideology thought to have been vanquished more than a half century ago.

This concept may seem absurd to those who cannot see past the rose-colored spin, hype, and disinformation poured out daily by the media conglomerates—most of which are owned by the very same families and corporations who supported the Nazis before World War II. But as Marrs precisely explains, National Socialism never died, but rather its hideous philosophy is alive and active in modern America. Unfortunately, most people cannot understand the shadowy links between fascism and corporate power, the military, and our elected leaders.

While the United States helped defeat the Germans in World War II, we failed to defeat the Nazis. At the end of the war, ranking Nazis, along with their young and fanatical protégés, used the loot of Europe to create corporate front companies in many countries, including the United States of America. Utilizing their stolen wealth, men with Nazi backgrounds and mentalities wormed their way into corporate America, slowly buying up and consolidating companies into giant multinational conglomerates. Many thousands of other Nazis came to the United States under classified programs such as Project Paperclip. They brought with them miraculous weapon technology that helped win the space race but they also brought their insidious Nazi philosophy within our borders. This ideology based on the authoritarian premise that the end justifies the means—including unprovoked wars of aggression and curtailment of individual liberties—has gained an iron hold in the "land of the free and the home of the brave."

For the first time Jim Marrs has gathered compelling evidence that an effort has been underway for the past sixty years to bring a form of National Socialism to modern America, creating in essence a modern empire—or "Fourth Reich"!


 

  The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (Liberation Trilogy)

 
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (Liberation Trilogy) under Europe in The Books Store
Price: $17.00
Sale: $9.49
 
Manufacturer: Holt Paperbacks
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Paperback
Author: Rick Atkinson
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Edition: Reprint
Dewey Decimal Number: 940
Publication Date: 2008-09-16
Reading Level: 848
 
Description: Amazon Best of the Month, November 2007: Topping a Pulitzer Prize-winning effort is tough; finding originality in a World War II narrative is even tougher. Yet Rick Atkinson accomplishes both with The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944. His previous work, An Army at Dawn, won the 2003 Pulitzer in history, but Atkinson has managed to set the bar even higher with his second installment in "The Liberation Trilogy." He descends upon each battlefield with rich historical perspective, tactical analysis, and chilling frontline observations. Cocksure Hollywood bravado is sparse, as Atkinson depicts soldiers fighting for honor, not glory. "We did it because we could not bear the shame of being less than the man beside us," explains one soldier's diary. "We fought because he fought; we died because he died." The result is an incredible portrayal of the courage, sorrow, and determination that came to define our greatest generation. --Dave Callanan

 

  The Duchess

 
The Duchess under Europe in The Books Store
Price: $15.95
Sale: $6.45
 
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Paperback
Author: Amanda Foreman
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Edition: Reprint
Dewey Decimal Number: 941.07092
Publication Date: 2008-08-19
Reading Level: 512
 
Description: A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

Now a major motion picture starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes


Lady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as famous in her day. In 1774 Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by marrying William Cavendish, fifth duke of Devonshire, one of England’s richest and most influential aristocrats. She became the queen of fashionable society and founder of the most important political salon of her time. But Georgiana’s public success concealed an unhappy marriage, a gambling addiction, drinking, drug-taking, and rampant love affairs with the leading politicians of the day. With penetrating insight, Amanda Foreman reveals a fascinating woman whose struggle against her own weaknesses, whose great beauty and flamboyance, and whose determination to play a part in the affairs of the world make her a vibrant, astonishingly contemporary figure.

 

  Thames: The Biography

 
Thames: The Biography under Europe in The Books Store
Price: $40.00
Sale: $18.88
 
Manufacturer: Nan A. Talese
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Hardcover
Author: Peter Ackroyd
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Dewey Decimal Number: 942.2
Publication Date: 2008-11-04
Reading Level: 512
 
Description:

In this perfect companion to London: The Biography, Peter Ackroyd once again delves into the hidden byways of history, describing the river’s endless allure in a journey overflowing with characters, incidents, and wry observations.

Thames: The Biography meanders gloriously, rather like the river itself. In short, lively chapters Ackroyd writes about connections between the Thames and such historical figures as Julius Caesar and Henry the VIII, and offers memorable portraits of the ordinary men and women who depend upon the river for their livelihoods. He visits all the towns and villages along the river from Oxfordshire to London and describes the magnificent royal residences, as well as the bridges and docks, locks and weirs, found along its 215-mile run. The Thames as a source of artistic inspiration comes brilliantly to life as Ackroyd invokes Chaucer, Shakespeare, Turner, Shelley, and other writers, poets, and painters who have been enchanted by its many moods and colors.

In his signature entertaining and informative manner, Ackroyd allows the reader to dip into chapters in his own spirit, or to follow the Thames from source to sea.
Illustrated with maps and photographs, THAMES is a vivid, highly original mosaic of life by and on the water.


 

  The Vertigo Years: Europe 1900-1914

 
The Vertigo Years: Europe 1900-1914 under Europe in The Books Store
Price: $29.95
Sale: $18.35
 
Manufacturer: Basic Books
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Hardcover
Author: Philipp Blom
Publisher: Basic Books
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.288
Publication Date: 2008-10-20
Reading Level: 512
 
Description:
Europe, 1900–1914: a world adrift, a pulsating era of creativity and contradictions. The major topics of the day: terrorism, globalization, immigration, consumerism, the collapse of moral values, and the rivalry of superpowers. The twentieth century was not born in the trenches of the Somme or Passchendaele—but rather in the fifteen vertiginous years preceding World War I.

In this short span of time, a new world order was emerging in ultimately tragic contradiction to the old. These were the years in which the political and personal repercussions of the Industrial Revolution were felt worldwide: Cities grew like never before as people fled the countryside and their traditional identities; science created new possibilities as well as nightmares; education changed the outlook of millions of people; mass-produced items transformed daily life; industrial laborers demanded a share of political power; and women sought to change their place in society—as well as the very fabric of sexual relations.

From the tremendous hope for a new century embodied in the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris to the shattering assassination of a Habsburg archduke in Sarajevo in 1914, historian Philipp Blom chronicles this extraordinary epoch year by year. Prime Ministers and peasants, anarchists and actresses, scientists and psychopaths intermingle on the stage of a new century in this portrait of an opulent, unstable age on the brink of disaster.

Beautifully written and replete with deftly told anecdotes, The Vertigo Years brings the wonders, horrors, and fears of the early twentieth century vividly to life.


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