The Viennese: Splendor, Twilight, and Exile

From Publishers Weekly
Hofmann writes of his native Vienna with the ambivalence he informs us is typical of the Viennese, who have always had a love/hate relationship with their home. "Although the author does not delve deeply into the psychology of the Viennese neurosis, he describes candidly the people of this city from the golden days of the Baroque era to the present," said PW. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Hofmann, a former New York Times bureau chief in Rome, has written a penetrating, engaging, vivid cultural history of his native Vienna, covering 2000 years and focusing mainly on the fame, foibles, and fortunes of its cultural elitein music, art, and literature, architecture and psychology. Hofmann limns the ambivalent tone of Viennese high society, with its gaiety and extraordinary talent, punctuated by depression, decadence, and intrigue. His book evocatively captures the neurotic soul of a city which repeatedly produced human genius and yet was so enthusiastically won over to Nazism. Illuminating; heartily recommended for students of European history and culture. Benny Kraut, Univ . of CincinnatiCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Book News, Inc.
A popular history covering 2,000 years, but focusing on the last years of Vienna's greatest glory--the period between WWI and WWII. Lacks a coherent bibliography. Illustrated. Acidic paper. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


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Hofmann writes of his native Vienna with the ambivalence he informs us is typical of the Viennese, who have always had a love/hate relationship with their home. ``Although the author does not delve deeply into the psychology of the Viennese neurosis, he describes candidly the people of this city from the golden days of the Baroque era to the present,'' said PW. (Oct.)


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