Customer Reviews

The Spirit of Hungary : A Panorama of Hungarian History and Culture (Third Edition)

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I had the opportunity to read the book's third edition, appeared in 1995, comparing it with its original edition and found it considerably improved. Besides giving very good data about the facts of Hungary's history, it is also spiced with chapters from famous historical novels, which gives an additional insight to some important historical moments (I liked specially "The pagans"). It also contains an ample panorama of Hungarian culture, an explanation of the origin of Hungarian language and a description of Hungarian music, literature and art. A very recommendable book for all persons, who wish to receive an insight to Hungary's history, past and present. After five years, a new edition, with updates of the latest events, like the 1100 years of the establishment of Hungarians in the Carpathian basin and the Millenium year of St. Stephen's crowning, would be welcome.

Steven Sisa needs to be commended for the most thorough, unbiased accounting of Hungarian history that I have read to date in the english language. He has captured the essential ingredients of Hungary's 1000 year presence in the heart of Europe while avoiding superfluous details. Anecdotes of the likes of Attila the Hun and Batu Khan, the Mongol chieftan who led his merciless forces against Christian Europe in 1240-41, spring to life with unusual vividness. Anyone desiring to have a concise picture in one volume of Hungary's colorful yet tumultuous history should not miss the opportunity of having this book in their library.

Preparing for a trip to Hungary, I enjoyed Sisa's rather old-fashioned narrative history. Suprisingly, the opening chapters proved gripping, filled with enthusiastically rendered anecdotes about early rulers, medieval battles, and lots of double-crossing diplomats and nobles. There's material here for a dozen epic (English-language at least!) novels or movies. Extracts from historical novels sprinkled throughout the book from otherwise untranslated Hungarian authors spice up Sisa's entrees vividly.

As Hungary becomes its own empire, then falls under Turkish and Habsburg dominance, the story keeps pace. When the Austrians take over, and nationalism emerges, you root for the heroes even as Sisa fairly tries to show how other Hungarians and minority peoples allied with the imperialists for their own reasons. Distinguishing the "state" from a "people" and a "nation" clarifies his presentation for Western readers who may lump these terms differently than they apply to Central Europe and the Balkans.

I found the latter part of the book a bit less engrossing; I expected more on 1956 and especially the Kadar period up to 1989. This post-revolt stage seems glossed over too quickly, even as other sections elaborate (especially in the second and third editions) in too much detail for the novice diplomatic and territorial confrontations with Romania, the former Czechoslovakia, and the Balkan states regarding Hungarian minorities and the aftermath of Trianon. This material may better suit political students of this period than the first-time reader wanting a panoramic view of Hungarian history and culture.

The absence of tanchaz music and the 1980s folk-music revival (Muszikas, Marta Sebestyen, romany/gypsy artists for example) bringing Hungary onto the "world music" scene means that you find a lot deservedly on classical music but not its modern folk offshoots and grafts. However, plenty of coverage of art and literature balances this omission, I suppose.

Written with obvious love and passion, yet remaining fair-minded about, say, the mixed blessings and upheavals Jewish immigration caused in the 19th c., the betrayals of its leaders, or the demands of minorities within Hungary's shifting borders, Sisa's book filled a need for a popularly aimed, solid work--belying its coffee-table size and rather rough-hewn cut-and-paste (pre-word processing) layout. Best read a few chapters at a time, the old-fashioned way: in a comfy armchair, propped open on your lap.