Bohemia in History
This original collection offers an account of key moments and themes in the history of the Czech lands from the time of the rise of the Premyslide dynasty in the ninth century to the fall of socialism in 1989. The pieces, commissioned especially for this volume, are written by prominent scholars almost all teaching and researching in the present-day Czech Republic. Apart from eleven historical essays along socio-political times there are four contributions which focus broadly on the arts, sciences and education, emphasising political, economic and other aspects. Two further essays consider the worlds of the university and of science in the period 1800–1914, and 1800–1930 respectively. The co-existence and encounters between Czechs and Germans embedded in Czech history are emphasised throughout the book, while the conflicts between the two nationalities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are examined in a separate chapter. Lastly, pursuing the 'ethnic' theme, there are essays on both the little-explored question of Czech-Jewish relations and on the sensitive Czech-Slovak question.
- The first full study of the history of Bohemia to be published in English in modern times
- Draws on the work of many of the Czech Republic's leading historians, who have written especially for this volume
- Offers major new insights into an important historical area of south-central Europe, and to both German and Czech history
Reviews & endorsements
"The work of a gifted editor and a score of Czech scholars who share a common history of having suffered injustice, ostracism, intellectual constraint, and academic persecution during communist rule in Czechoslovakia--especially after 1968--this volume of 18 essays presents a strikingly original picture of Czech history and culture." Choice
"...the essays are written in a style that is clear and avoids the use of cumbersome jargon...The collection is almost entirely free of anything that might be considered patriotic chestbeating or ranting nationalism." Andrew M. Drozd, Slavic and East European Journal
"All of these essays are highly scholarly pieces of work....The English translations are uniformly excellent..." Slavic Review
"...handsomely produced volume..." American Historical Review
Product details
December 1998Hardback
9780521431552
408 pages
236 × 160 × 31 mm
0.86kg
6 b/w illus. 7 maps
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction Mikulás Teich
- 1. Boiohaemum - Cechy Jirà Sláma
- 2. The making of the Czech state: Bohemia and Moravia from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries Jaroslav MeznÃk and Zdenek MerÃnsky
- 3. Politics and culture under Charles IV Frantisek Kavka
- 4. The Hussite movement: an anomaly of European history? Frantisek Smahel
- 5. The monarchy of the estates Josef Macek
- 6. Rudolfine culture Josef Válka
- 7. The White Mountain as a symbol in modern Czech history Josef Petrán and Lydia Petránová
- 8. The alchemy of happiness: the Enlightenment in the Moravian context Jirà Kroupa
- 9. Problems and paradoxes of the national revival VladimÃr Macura
- 10. Czech society 1848–1918 Otto Urban
- 11. The university professors and students in nineteenth-century Bohemia Jan Havránek
- 12. Science in a bilingual country Irena Seidlerová
- 13. The rise and fall of a democracy Robert Kvacek
- 14. The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1939–45): the economic dimension Alice Teichova
- 15. Czechoslovakia behind the Iron Curtain (1945–89) Milan Otáhal
- 16. Changes in identity: Germans in Bohemia and Moravia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Jan Kren
- 17. Czechs and Jews Helena Krejcová 18. Czechs and Slovaks in modern history Dusan Kovác.