Maria Theresa [Hardcover]

Edward Crankshaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 16, 1970

Written by Edward Crankshaw, this is a full- length study of Maria Theresa. Called to the throne in 1740, at the age of 23, she was unprepared for events that were t o confront her. Her only weapons were her charm, unbreakable will, and her courage. '

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 366 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (March 16, 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670456314
• ISBN-13: 978-0670456314
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #950,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo! I could not put this book down!, August 25, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Maria Theresa (Hardcover)

If you buy this book, you will find all you need to know about Maria Theresa. Rather than tell the story of the book, I will tell you that the author tells an interesting story that will captivate you. You will be suprised by how she maintained - despite her advisors and family. The author is a little hard on Joesph II. You will come out of this book respecting this woman, but "with eyes wide open", knowing her faults. I originally bought this book to find out what was behind the "useless people" remark she used about the Mozarts. I now know why she said that. Buy this book and discover for yourself. Well worth the money! 338 pages and the book may appear a little old; however, the content is spell-binding!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo! I couldn't put it down!!!, August 19, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Maria Theresa (Hardcover)

I bought this book to see what was behind the "useless people" remark she made about Mozart and his family. After reading this book, I feel that I know why she made this remark. You will have to read and draw your own conclusion! This book revealed the reasons for some hard decisions made by this remarkable woman and the unbelievable incompetence that surrounded her. After reading this book, you may - or may not like Maria Theresa. I won't go into how I feel, because you may come away completely different. Even though this book is a little old, it is captivating, informative, easy to understand, and you will walk away understanding the history of this woman completely. This is the book to buy if you want to know about Maria Theresa. 338 spell-binding pages. Sorry I don't tell the story of the book in a short review.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How do you solve a problem like Maria, May 27, 2009

By 

Jason S. Taylor "Marco's Realto" (Portland Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maria Theresa (Biography & Memoirs) (Paperback)

She was dumure, yet autocratic. She was merry yet at times prudish. She was compassionate, yet could also be ruthless. She could rule by fiat but prefered ruling by charm. She was like a beautiful princess. Oh wait, she WAS a beautiful princess. For she was Maria Theresa von Hapsburg, in her time the most powerful woman in the world.

And if all this sounds off the wall for someone who has been dead for two-hundred years, to a history buff no one is truly dead. And in any case her subjects thought much the same of her at the time.

Edward Crankshaw here gives his splendid biography of one of the great monarchs of history. Maria came to the throne ill-prepared, to rule over a patchwork quilt of nations that was a holdover from Medieval times. With her charisma and wisdom she managed to bring it into modern times, but with a gentle proding, rather then the arogance of the sweeping change determined to have progress no matter who is hurt. Her realm perhaps had more ancient injustices then Prussia did. But she also had the wisdom to know that people are people, not toys to play with and that change can sometimes be worse then what is replaced. Of course she might not have put it that way. She ruled by instinct not philosophy. And if her realm was less efficient(as it is called)then others, it was also more human. But she had one more great achievement. For of all who have held near absolute power Maria was one of the few who was never quite corrupted. She was not only a woman of charm and a woman of power. She was a woman of character.

Mr. Crankshaw writes this splendid biography. In it he shows, not only Maria's suprising ability to hold her own in political intrigue with the power-hungry rulers around. It also shows her at home with her daily life. It shows her at work and at play. It shows how she wrestled with the eternal problem of reconciling piety and power and with the more humdrum problems of how to control oneself-a greater achivement then controling an empire. It is a warm sympathetic biography, but it does not leave out her warts such as her vindictiveness, her occasional weakness, and sometimes her curious lack of sophistication(a weakness which was sometimes as much a strength as a weakness). This is a book about a great person who was also a good person and it is well worth the read.