Buy used: $40.33

FREE delivery May 12 - 19. Details

Or fastest delivery May 11 - 16. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by GF Books, Inc.

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Paul Belien

A Throne in Brussels: Britain, the Saxe-Coburgs and the Belgianisation of Europe Hardcover – May 1, 2005

by Paul Belien (Author)

14 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$20.49

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$40.33

—

$19.98

Paperback

"Please retry"

$71.34

$71.33

$62.93

Kindle
$20.49 Read with Our Free App
Hardcover
$40.33

4 Used from $19.98 1 Collectible from $34.00
Paperback
$62.94 - $71.34

2 Used from $62.93 2 New from $71.33

Paul Belien argues that the pan-European super-state currently in the making will resemble a 'Greater Belgium' rather than a 'Greater Switzerland', since Europe will also be an artificial construct. Belgium has infected EU political attitudes and acts as a model for the EU -- a failed attempt to'construct a nation' out of different peoples with separate languages and traditions. To learn what the EU as a single state might be like, take up this highly readable mix of history, analysis and warning. You'll never feel the same about Belgium or Europe again.

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Imprint Academic
Publication date

May 1, 2005
Dimensions

5.68 x 1.28 x 8.62 inches
ISBN-10

184540033X
ISBN-13

978-1845400330
See all details

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An extremely well-written, penetrating historical analysis" -- Lord Ralph Harris

"If you read only one book on Belgium, make it this one." -- Daniel Hannan MEP

"Paul Belien writes with ease and erudition, and mounts an unanswerable case." -- Roger Scruton

"The Belgianisation of Europe is a real threat." -- Lord William Rees-Mogg

"This is a fascinating book after which I cannot but see the Belgian royal family in a completely new light." -- Hugo Vickers

About the Author

Paul Belien is a Master of Law, with specialisations in European and Social Security law (University of Ghent) and has a PhD in International Studies (University of Buckingham). He is the founder of the Brussels-based Centre for the New Europe (CNE) and worked for two decades as a professional journalist. His articles have appeared in various British and American publications, such as the Spectator, the Wall Street Journal and many others.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Imprint Academic; n edition (May 1, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 184540033X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1845400330
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.54 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.68 x 1.28 x 8.62 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,807,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #478 in Belgian History
- #11,504 in European Politics Books
- #34,683 in Political Science (Books)

Customer Reviews:
14 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Paul Belien

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5

14 global ratings

5 star		50%
4 star		9%
3 star		19%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		21%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Badazz

A Case for Flanders

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

A Throne in Brussels is a book that argues that Belgium is not a nation in any real sense of the word, but instead is an artificial construction that holds together two wholly separate people-the Flemings and the Walloons. These two people have had radically different economic histories. The Walloons industrialized first, but have since stagnated. The Flemings started as poor agrarians but today are the vanguard for Belgium's economic development. The author, Paul Belien, argues that the Flemish should leave Belgium and become an independent people.

Belien's organizes his arguments by discussing Belgian history through segmenting it by the reigns of Belgium's Kings. Every lurid tale whispered about the Royal House is mentioned. Much is also made of Walloon "rip-offs" against the Flemings through taxes and welfare state transfer programs. King Leopold III, the reigning monarch during the German Occupation of Belgium is especially criticized.

Belien successfully argues that Belgium's monarchs and political elite are corrupt, self-serving, and damaging to the Flemish. He also argues that Belgium's political culture of a rapacious elite, ruling an artificial state, has seeped in to the European Union. He explores the idea that Moslem/North African immigration into Belgium is a weapon used by the Belgium state to displace the Flemings.

This book is a stunning read! It is well written, easy to follow, and highly persuasive. It would go well with a book about Belgium from the point of view of the Walloons.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

L.Roche

In depth History of Belgium with carefully detailed supporting evidence

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 3, 2014

Written objectively and neutral, this book holds a most accurate history of 183yrs old Belgium, that, since Leopold II and the Vatican, his sole business partner, dominates the landscape.

This state of affairs emerged after the 1830 Revolution which erroneously is referred to as a 'Belgian Revolution', however, Belgium did not exist, but a failed attempt to annex the Southern Provinces of the Netherlands to France. This July Revolution of France, with roots in Brussels resulted in the end of the alliance of the French monarchy and the Roman Catholic church. This Catholic, Vatican loss of its power in the new Republic of France was rekindled with the newly formed nation of Belgium. A state of affairs Leopold I warned for, unfortunately in vain, as present Belgian monarchy still bows for the Vatican and sadly is its slave and vassal. Every argument in the book is sustained by an 'éventail' of accurate historic supporting evidence.

This is the only History book of Belgium, I came across, that highlights the historic modus operandi of Cardinal Mercier in the Flanders, his illegally erasing the legally earned diplomas of Flemish/French Speaking Teachers (page 165) an evolution in the country enduring decades of child abuse by the clergy and its lay-people. King Albert and his Elisabeth, and consequently kings and governments did not and still do not raise a voice.
The ugly reality of the Christian Belgian French Power Machine - in Belgium and in the Congo- under the historic display of Cardinal Mercier in his own words : "Moi je suis d'une race destinée à dominer et vous d'une race destinée a servir" (English: "I belong to a race destined to dominate and you belong to a race destined to serve"). and co, his obsession with the abuse of power of the educational system, - he exported worldwide, including into the USA and Boston,- sold as education.

Locally, the book endures, its content challenges the propaganda history distributed by the catholic university Leuven and political power machine that holds the 80 pct strong influence of its Catholic dominated educational system. Indeed only 20% of Belgium's educational system is Free Thinking Public Schools and Universities, a sad state of affairs when 100% of the educational system is paid for by taxes.

The question is: is it responsible, logic, rational to waste taxes for religiously indoctrinated, with propaganda history overpowered educational system or does every human being has the inherent right to be informed accurately and learn, acquire knowledge free of encumbrances?

Anyone interested in the details of the history of Europe, the Congo, the first totalitarian ruler of the Modern Age, the supreme authority in a slave state, accountable to no one, LeopoldII, the father of present day totalitarian rulers, the power of Catholicism over Monarchy that paints the landscape, the 'divide et impera', Divide and Reign.
The bitter Christian reality of Belgium where the Vatican split a once upon a time ancient free university of Leuven with Academic languages as Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, English, German etc, into a narrow minded theologically indoctrinated Flemish and French speaking Catholic University Leuven/Louvain. The heart of Europe is now subjected to six governments.

Helpful

Judith Loriente

Great read, but what's with the silly subtitle?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 6, 2011

I wish I'd read this book earlier, and I would have if it hadn't been for the subtitle. It came up on a website when I was looking at other books on the subject some time ago, but the subtitle led me to believe it was about modern Britain, Belgium and the EU. In fact, it's better described as an updated version of Theo Aronson's 1968 Defiant Dynasty: The Coburgs of Belgium , with all sorts of scandalous stories that Aronson either left out or, more likely, hadn't discovered back then. A much better title would have been `A Throne in Brussels: A Warts-and-all History of the Coburgs of Belgium'.

The information, mentioned in reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, that the author is a member of a right-wing political party that wants Flanders to separate from Belgium naturally made me wonder whether the book would be shamelessly biased. But I'm interested in the subject, so I read it anyway. I read a lot of history, and I actually found it no more biased than the average work of popular or even academic history. If it had been a poorly-researched political rant full of factual errors, it might be dismissible as nothing more than a propaganda piece, but it didn't come across as that at all. I've read quite a bit on this subject, and I don't recall noticing a single factual error. That doesn't mean there aren't any, and the salacious stories about the Coburgs' marital and extra-marital upheavals also can't necessarily all be substantiated. But just because scandalous stories can't be substantiated, that doesn't guarantee they aren't true, or that they won't be proven true later on. My preference is to treat them as possibilities rather than certainties, and keep an open mind. Though as for Belien's claim that Leopold I was probably the biological father of his nephew Prince Albert, that's not even exceptional - Richard Sotnick's recent The Coburg Conspiracy: Royal Plots and Manoeuvres is devoted to proving Albert's illegitimacy, and he concludes that Leopold is one of the candidates. And, as I mentioned in my review of The Coburg Conspiracy, Sotnick doesn't seem to be aware that David Duff put forward this theory as far back as 1972, in Albert and Victoria . Neither does Belien.

This book isn't the final word on its subject, and one written from the perspective of a French-speaking citizen of Belgium would doubtless have a very different emphasis. But then, it is popular history, and as it states on the back cover, it's the only English-language popular history of Belgium. Whatever its flaws, I'm glad it was written, and in spite of its bias I enjoyed reading it.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Marilyn Mortimore

A very interesting read. There were (still are) some ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 19, 2016

Verified Purchase

A very interesting read. There were (still are) some very evil people around. What a pity the get away with it.

I F Brighton

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 12, 2016

Verified Purchase

interesting..

Patrick

Histoire et portrait sans concession d'un pays complexe

Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on July 22, 2016

Verified Purchase

Vivant en Belgique, j'ai été attiré par cette "autre" histoire de la Belgique .. et je n'ai pas été déçu! Quelle découverte que les dessous de l'Histoire, tout ce qu'on ne raconte ni à l'école, ni dans la presse. Un portrait sans concession, vraiment remarquable. L'auteur cite toutes ses sources, il s'agit d'un travail d'érudition.
Pour un lecteur "non belge", petite attention sur la position clairement séparatiste de l'auteur, sans problème, il est en droit d'exprimer ses opinions, simple filtre de lecture à prendre en considération.
Je recommanderais ce livre à toute personne désireuse de comprendre mieux les rouages d'un pays d'une grande complexité.

One person found this helpful

Translate review to English

Roger F. Alsop

shocking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 21, 2008

Verified Purchase

Horribly gripping and it rings true. Belgium is the disgrace of Europe and it's where we're heading too. A multicultural hellhole.

7 people found this helpful

See all reviews

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Sell on Amazon Start a Selling Account

Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	Amazon Fresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Experienced Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Ignite Sell your original Digital Educational Resources	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Listen to Books & Original Audio Performances	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Box Office Mojo Find Movie Box Office Data	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics	DPReview Digital Photography	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting

Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Great Deals on Quality Used Products	Whole Foods Market America’s Healthiest Grocery Store	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Zappos Shoes & Clothing	Ring Smart Home Security Systems

eero WiFi Stream 4K Video in Every Room	Blink Smart Security for Every Home	Neighbors App Real-Time Crime & Safety Alerts	Amazon Subscription Boxes Top subscription boxes – right to your door	PillPack Pharmacy Simplified	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust