Charleston County Public Library

The last palace, Europe's turbulent century in five lives and one legendary house, Norman Eisen

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 361-392) and index

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

The last palace

bibliography

1048657406

Norman Eisen

Europe's turbulent century in five lives and one legendary house

"A sweeping yet intimate narrative about the last hundred years of turbulent European history, as seen through one of Mitteleuropa's greatest houses--and the lives of its occupants"--, Provided by publisherWhen Eisen moved into the US ambassador's residence in Prague, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture. As he unspooled the twisting, captivating tale of some of the remarkable people who had called this palace home, he began to chronicle the upheavals that transformed the continent over the past century. He introduces us to optimistic Jewish financial baron, Otto Petschek, who built the palace after World War I; Rudolf Toussaint, the cultured, compromised German general who occupied the palace during World War II; Laurence Steinhardt, the first postwar US ambassador; and Shirley Temple Black, an eyewitness to the crushing of the 1968 Prague Spring who returned as US ambassador in 1989. -- adapted from jacket

The golden son of the Golden City -- The king of coal -- Palace neverending -- The final child -- An artist of war -- The most dangerous man in the Reich -- Is Prague burning? -- "If you're going through hell, keep going" -- "He who is master of Bohemia is master of Europe" -- Lush life -- Small salvations -- "Never, never, never give in" -- Nothing crushes freedom like a tank -- A revolutionary production -- Truth prevails -- "The past is never dead. It's not even past."