Physical Description:xvii, 830 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 24 cm. print
Edition:1st American ed.
Publisher:New York : Viking, 2012.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Tolosa : soujourn of the Visigoths (AD 418-507) -- Alt Clud : Kingdom of the Rock (fifth to twelfth centuries) -- Burgundia : five, six, or seven kingdoms (c. 411-1795) -- Aragon : a Mediterranean empire (1137-1714) -- Litva : a grand duchy with kings (1253-1795) -- Byzantion : the star-lit golden bough (330-1453) -- Borussia : watery land of the Prusai (1230-1945) -- Sabaudia : The house that Humbert built (1033-1946) -- Galicia : kingdom of the naked and starving (1773-1918) -- Etruria : French snake in the Tuscan grass (1801-14) -- Rosenau : the loved and unwonted legacy (1826-1918) -- Tsernagora : Kingdom of the Black Mountain (1910-1918) -- Rusyn : the republic of one day (15 March 1939) -- Éire : The unconscionable tempo of the Crown's retreat (1916-2011) -- CCCP : the ultimate vanishing act (1924-1991) -- How states die.
Summary, etc.:
An evocative account of fourteen European kingdoms -- their rise, maturity, and eventual disappearance. There is something profoundly romantic about lost civilizations. Europe's past is littered with states and kingdoms, large and small, that are scarcely remembered today, and while their names may be unfamiliar -- Aragon, Etruria, the Kingdom of the Two Burgundies -- their stories should change our mental map of the past. We come across forgotten characters and famous ones -- King Arthur and Macbeth, Napoleon and Queen Victoria, right up to Stalin and Gorbachev -- and discover how faulty memory can be, and how much we can glean from these lost empires. Davies peers through the cracks in the mainstream accounts of modern-day states to dazzle us with extraordinary stories of barely remembered pasts, and of the traces they left behind. This is Norman Davies at his best: sweeping narrative history packed with unexpected insights. Vanished Kingdoms will appeal to all fans of unconventional and thought-provoking history, from readers of Niall Ferguson to Jared Diamond. - Publisher.