add this to your reading list during coronavirus quarantine

Finally! ... A coherent narrative about the origins of the Great War.

Many of you know that I have written several guidebooks about Prague. But you might not know that last year I participated in the publication of a book in a different way. I had the pleasure of helping friend and fellow author, Maggie Ledford Lawson, format and publish her great work, Passage to Byzantium: The Romanov-Habsburg Feud that Led to World War I.

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A life's work

This book is a life's work for Maggie, who spend most of her career as a journalist in Washington, DC, and later Prague. She spent more than a decade researching for this book.

A Habsburg history enthusiast, Maggie even interviewed one of the remaining Habsburg descendants in completing this work.

And some of the action takes place in the Czech Republic, sites that you can visit today.

For me it was a challenge and a real learning experience to format such a complex (yet very readable and enjoyable!) work, given the number of footnotes, bibliography entries and extensive index. And I absolutely loved it!

You can order a copy on Amazon.com (or through your local bookstore either online or in person when they re-open). Barnes & Noble should have it online, as well, or they can order it for you in the store (again, when they re-open).

book review of "Passage to Byzantium"

In the meantime, here's a review of Maggie's book by Geoffrey Wawro, author of A Mad Catastrophe:  The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire:

Russian imperialism has always groped south - toward the Balkans and Black Sea - most recently under Putin.  Maggie Ledford Lawson's Passage To Byzantium locates the historical roots of this policy, and analyzes it in a vivid way that condenses a vast published literature to produce a highly readable, engaging narrative drawn from the principal scholars of Russia and the Balkans. 
 
Happy reading!