Random House New Releases - History - Austria & Hungary - Between May 20, 2012 and June 19, 2013.

Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18 by Paul Wright

2012-09-18T00:30:00-05:00

Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18
Written by Ryan Noppen
Illustrated by Paul Wright

Despite imperial politics, a modern Austro-Hungarian battleship fleet was built and contested Italian dominance of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean through a series of daring naval raids that netted greater success than anything the German High Seas Fleet accomplished in the North Sea.

The nineteenth century saw the assertion of Habsburg sea power over the Adriatic from the Austrian inheritance of the Venetian fleet in 1797 to Rear Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff's stunning victory over a superior Italian force at the Battle of Lissa in 1866 to the gradual creation of a modern battle fleet beginning in the 1890s. Austria-Hungary did not have an overseas empire; its empire lay within its own boundaries and the primary purpose of its navy until the beginning of the twentieth century was the defense of its coastline. As its merchant marine dramatically grew in the late nineteenth century, Austro-Hungarian admirals believed that the navy should take a more proactive policy of defense, defending not only the coastline but the greater Adriatic and even the Mediterranean waters which the empire's merchant ships plied. The 1890s saw the beginning of a series of naval building programs that would create a well-balanced modern fleet. Cruisers were constructed for the protection of overseas trade and for "showing the flag" but the decisive projection of Austria-Hungary's commitment to control the Adriatic was the construction of a force of modern battleships. Compared to the British, French, Germans, and even Italians, the Austro-Hungarians were relative latecomers to the design and construction of battleships. Austro-Hungarian naval policy tended to be reactionary rather than proactive; its admirals closely followed Italian naval developments and sought appropriate countermeasures even though the two nations were tenuously bound together by the Triple Alliance pact of 1882. Despite the naval arms race throughout Europe at the time, the navy had difficulty obtaining funds for new ships as the Hungarian government was reluctant to fund a fleet that principally served the maritime interests of the ethnically German portion of the empire. The difficulties experienced in battleship funding and construction mirrored the political difficulties and ethnic rivalries within the empire. Nevertheless by August of 1914, the Austro-Hungarian fleet had a force of nine battleships, three pre-dreadnoughts, and one dreadnought (three more in the final stages of construction). This book will survey the five classes of Austro-Hungarian battleships in service during the First World War.

Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18 by Paul Wright

2012-09-18T00:30:00-05:00

Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18
Written by Ryan Noppen
Illustrated by Paul Wright

Ballpoint by David Robert Evans

2012-08-21T00:30:00-05:00

Ballpoint A Tale of Genius and Grit, Perilous Times, and the Invention that Changed the Way We Write
Written by Gyoergy Moldova
Translated by David Robert Evans

The triumphs and the trials of the men who invented the modern ballpoint pen as they battled corporate greed, dark eras--and each other.

László Bíró's last name is, in much of the world, a synonym for his revolutionary writing tool. But few people know that Bíró began his career in interwar Budapest as a journalist frustrated with spotty ink; that he escaped fascism by fleeing to Paris and, finally, to Buenos Aires; that a fellow Hungarian, Andor Goy, also played a vital role in the pen's development--and that, in a tragic twist of shared fate, business pressures and politics ultimately deprived both men of their rights to the ballpoint pen. Taking us from Hitler's Europe in 1938, to Argentina, where Bíró settled, and to Communist-era Hungary, where Goy lived out his life, Ballpoint is a painstakingly researched, absorbing narrative that reads simultaneously like a work of history and a novel.

Ballpoint by David Robert Evans

2012-08-07T00:30:00-05:00

Ballpoint A Tale of Genius and Grit, Perilous Times, and the Invention that Changed the Way We Write
Written by Gyoergy Moldova
Translated by David Robert Evans

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian by ISTVAN BORI

2012-07-24T00:30:00-05:00

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian 50 Facts and Facets of Nationhood
Edited by ISTVAN BORI

What is it to be Hungarian? What does it feel like? Most Hungarians are convinced that the rest of the world just doesn't get them. They are right. True, much of the world thinks highly of Hungarians--for reasons ranging from their heroism in the 1956 revolution to their genius as mathematicians, physicists, and financiers. But Hungarians do often seem to be living proof of the old joke that Magyars are in fact Martians: they may be situated in the very heart of Europe, but they are equipped with a confounding language, extraterrestrial (albeit endearing) accents, and an unearthly way of thinking.

What most Hungarians learn from life about the Magyar mind is now available, for the first time, in this user-friendly guide to what being Hungarian is all about.

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian brings together twelve authors well-versed in the quintessential ingredients of being Hungarian--from the stereotypical Magyar man to the stereotypical Magyar woman, foods to folk customs, livestock to literature, film to philosophy, politics to porcelain, and scientists to sports.

In fifty short, highly readable, often witty, sometimes politically incorrect, but always candid articles, the authors demonstrate that being credibly Hungarian--like being French, Polish or Japanese--is largely a matter of carrying around in your head a potpourri of conceptions and preconceptions acquired over the years from your elders, society, school, the streets, and mass media.

Compacting this wealth of knowledge into an irresistible little book, The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian is an indispensable reference that will teach you how to be Hungarian, even if you already are.

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian by ISTVAN BORI

2012-07-03T00:30:00-05:00

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian 50 Facts and Facets of Nationhood
Edited by ISTVAN BORI

Austrian Specialist Troops of the Napoleonic Wars by Bryan Fosten

2012-05-22T00:30:00-05:00

Austrian Specialist Troops of the Napoleonic Wars
Written by Philip Haythornthwaite
Illustrated by Bryan Fosten

eBook, 48 pages | Osprey Publishing | History - Military; History - Austria & Hungary; History - Modern - 19th Century | $13.95 | May 22, 2012 | 978-1-78096-759-2 (1-78096-759-4)

The specialist troops of the Austrian forces helped to secure Austria's reputation as the most formidable of Napoleon's continental enemies. Due largely to the efforts of Prince Liechtenstein, by the late 18th century the Austrian artillery had been the finest in Europe, and was held up as an example to the world. This text examines the famed Austrian artillery and other specialist troops of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), including the Pioneers, Pontooneers, engineer services and medical service, detailing their organisation, equipment and uniforms in a volume complete with accompanying illustrations and colour plates.

Random House New Releases - History - Austria & Hungary - Between May 20, 2012 and June 19, 2013.

Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18 by Paul Wright

Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18 Written by Ryan Noppen Illustrated by Paul Wright

Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18 by Paul Wright

Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18 Written by Ryan Noppen Illustrated by Paul Wright

Ballpoint by David Robert Evans

Ballpoint A Tale of Genius and Grit, Perilous Times, and the Invention that Changed the Way We WriteWritten by Gyoergy Moldova Translated by David Robert Evans

Ballpoint by David Robert Evans

Ballpoint A Tale of Genius and Grit, Perilous Times, and the Invention that Changed the Way We WriteWritten by Gyoergy Moldova Translated by David Robert Evans

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian by ISTVAN BORI

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian 50 Facts and Facets of NationhoodEdited by ISTVAN BORI

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian by ISTVAN BORI

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian 50 Facts and Facets of NationhoodEdited by ISTVAN BORI

Austrian Specialist Troops of the Napoleonic Wars by Bryan Fosten

Austrian Specialist Troops of the Napoleonic Wars Written by Philip Haythornthwaite Illustrated by Bryan Fosten

Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18
Written by Ryan Noppen
Illustrated by Paul Wright

Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18
Written by Ryan Noppen
Illustrated by Paul Wright

Ballpoint A Tale of Genius and Grit, Perilous Times, and the Invention that Changed the Way We Write
Written by Gyoergy Moldova
Translated by David Robert Evans

Ballpoint A Tale of Genius and Grit, Perilous Times, and the Invention that Changed the Way We Write
Written by Gyoergy Moldova
Translated by David Robert Evans

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian 50 Facts and Facets of Nationhood
Edited by ISTVAN BORI

The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian 50 Facts and Facets of Nationhood
Edited by ISTVAN BORI

Austrian Specialist Troops of the Napoleonic Wars
Written by Philip Haythornthwaite
Illustrated by Bryan Fosten