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The history of Prague spans over thousands of years, during which time the city grew from the Vy?ehrad Castle to the multicultural capital of a modern European state, the Czech Republic. ... Read more

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Czechoslovakia from 1990 Slovak: ?esko-Slovensko was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992. From 1939 to 1945 the state did not have de facto existence, due to its forced division and partial incorporation into Germany, but the Czech government-in-exile nevertheless continued to exist during this time period while Slovakia was independent from the Czech part. On 1 January 1993 Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. ... Read more

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The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia charts historical developments in the two nations to the opening decade of the 21st century. The book begins with an overview of the geography, climate, people, economy, and government of both the Czech and Slovak republics. Subsequent chapters offer a chronologically organized survey of historical events, trends, ideas, and people.

Starting with the early Slavic settlements around the 5th century AD, the book explores Czech and Slovak history through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Early Modern eras, the Enlightenment, and the age of nationalism and revolution. Chapters on the 20th century include discussion of the World Wars, the interwar Czechoslovak state, the Communist decades, the Prague Spring, and the Velvet Revolution of 1989. The story is brought up to date with insights into developments in the independent Czech and Slovak republics since 1993.

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Chapters: History of the Jews in Prague, Moses Taku, Familianten, Josefov, History of the Jews in the Czech Republic, Old Jewish Cemetery, Porges, New Jewish Cemetery, 2006 Prague Terror Plot. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 37. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Jewish community of Prague (capital of today's Czech Republic) is one of Europe's oldest and most well-known Jewish communities. The 16th century began the Jewish Renaissance in Prague. Prague nobility in 1501 allowed for an open atmosphere of economic activity. Yet during the Habsburg reign, the Jewish people were expelled twice in 1542 and 1561 . Each time they returned to prosper even more. From 1564-1612, the reigns of Maximilian and Rudolf II were golden ages for the Jews in Prague. In the early 1700s, the Jews accounted for about one fourth of Pragues population. More Jewish people lived in Prague than anywhere else in the world. This golden age ended with Empress Maria Theresa abdicating the throne, and expelling the Jews once again . There was no legal transition from the Jewish Quarter to the ghetto. In was unstated but understood. Know as the Judenstadt, the ghetto was the center of Jewish mysticism. From 1522-1541, the population of the ghetto almost doubled due to influx of Jews expelled from Moravia, Germany, Austria and Spain. The ghetto grew in area because laws allow the Jews to build homes on land next to the ghetto . Inside the ghetto the Jewish people had their own town hall with a prized small bell used to call attendees to meetings. The Jews even had permission to fly their own flag. Jewish living in the ghetto prospered in many diverse professions such as mathematicians, astronomers, geographers, historians, philosophers, and artists. . The Old Jewish Cemetery, the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=3977234 ... Read more

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Chapters: Jewish Czechoslovak History, Jews and Judaism in the Czech Republic, Sudetenland, German Occupation of Czechoslovakia, Germans in Czechoslovakia, Religion in Czechoslovakia, Nansenhjelpen, Jewish Community in Ústí Nad Labem, Jewish Town Hall, Jewish Ceremonial Hall, Prague. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 61. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Following the Anschluss of Nazi Germany and Austria in March 1938, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's next ambition was annexation of Czechoslovakia. His pretext was alleged privations suffered by ethnic German populations living in Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known collectively as the Sudetenland. Their incorporation into Nazi Germany would leave the rest of Czechoslovakia powerless to resist subsequent occupation. From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, and Ciano pictured before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany. Sudeten German pro-Nazi leader Konrad Henlein offered the Sudeten German Party (SdP) as the agent for Hitler's campaign. Henlein met with Hitler in Berlin on March 28, 1938, where he was instructed to raise demands unacceptable to the Czechoslovak government led by president Edvard Bene. On April 24, the SdP issued the Carlsbad Decrees, demanding autonomy for the Sudetenland and the freedom to profess Nazi ideology. If Henlein's demands were granted, the Sudetenland would then be able to align itself with Nazi Germany. Edvard Bene, the second President of Czechoslovakia and leader of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. As the previous appeasement of Hitler had shown, the governments of both France and the United Kingdom were set on avoiding war at any cost. The French government did not wish to face Nazi Germany alone and took its lead from the Bri...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=421709 ... Read more

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Chapters: Czech Jews, Czech Rabbis, Jewish Czech History, Jewish Schools in the Czech Republic, Synagogues in the Czech Republic, Sigmund Freud, Tom Stoppard, Gustav Mahler, Yair Bacharach, Wilhelm Steinitz, Erich Heller, List of Czech and Slovak Jews, Karl Kraus, Ernest Gellner, Yehuda Bauer, Leo Jung, Josel of Rosheim, Salo Flohr, Ignaz Moscheles, Moritz Steinschneider, Tzvi Ashkenazi, Saul Friedländer, Kurt Freund, Egon Erwin Kisch, David Popper, Áron Chorin, Stephan Körner, Herbert Thomas Mandl, Fredy Perlman, Rudolf Slánský, Isaac Hirsch Weiss, Pavel Haas, Rudolf Firkušný, Vilém Klíma, Max Wertheimer, Gotthard Deutsch, Hugo Salus, Hans Kelsen, David Kaufmann, František Kriegel, Erwin Schulhoff, Otto Šling, Vladimír Železný, Edward Rosewater, Richard Glazar, Siegfried Marcus, Fritz Weiss, Ota Pavel, Vilém Flusser, Walter Trier, Rudolf Margolius, Miloš Kopecký, Leopold Löw, Paul Kornfeld, Jan Fischer, Isaac Ben Moses of Vienna, Emil Wolf, Josef Stránský, Jakob Ehrlich, Nehemiah Brüll, Erik Jan Hanussen, Mordecai Yoffe, Karel Ančerl, Hugo Weisgall, Eduard Hanslick, History of the Jews in Prague, Alexander Goldscheider, Franz Werfel, Otto Gutfreund, Emil Kolben, Karel Reiner, Jiří Weil, David Černý, Nahman Avigad, Ida Ehre, Emil Lederer, Karel Reisz, Moses Taku, František Gellner, Karol Sidon, Hans Krása, Hugo Bergmann, Ladislav Fuks, Itzhak Bentov, František Graus, Familianten, Josefov, Karel Poláček, Gideon Klein, Wilhelm Jerusalem, David Gans, Jan Saudek, Rafael Schächter, Joseph Wechsberg, Peter C. Newman, Oskar Kraus, Great Synagogue, History of the Jews in the Czech Republic, Jiří Pelikán, Josef Korbel, a Trial in Prague, Rudolf Charousek, Stefan Lux, Leo Eitinger, Ernest Nagel, Herbert Felix, Friedrich Kraus, Jan Klusák, Bedřich Reicin, Berthold Epstein, Henri Blowitz, Moses Löb Bloch, Gustav Karpeles, Henrik Bródy, Miroslav Kárný, Hana Brady, George Placzek, William Salcer, Olomouc Synagogue, Ábrahám Lederer, Malva ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=167866 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from History Behind the Headlines, Vols. 1-6, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 6555 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Presents in-depth information on conflicts appearing in today's headlines. Users are provided with historical background and analysis to events to give a greater understanding of the politics, players, and layers of current affairs. ... Read more

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Completely updated and revised for this new edition, our unique electronic book on two CD-ROMs has an amazing collection of the finest federal documents and resources about the Czech Republic, providing encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of the country. This disc set provides a truly fantastic reference source, with over one hundred thousand pages reproduced in Adobe Acrobat format! There is complete coverage of newsworthy material about the Czech Republic, including Vaclav Havel, visits of President Bush and President Clinton, Partnership for Change, SEED Act, Nuclear Power, 1987 Czechoslovakia country study, doing business, USAID reports, agriculture, trade, European Union, and more.This incredible and comprehensive series on the countries of the world contains material from the State Department, Department of Defense, White House, and cabinet agencies including Agriculture, Energy, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.There is complete information about geography, people, government, the economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.In addition to the nation-specific material, as a bonus we have included reports about every country on the globe, with 271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities identified by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA World Factbook is considered an invaluable "world encyclopedia" reference book.This incredible two CD-ROM set is packed with over 100,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Macintosh systems. The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality to this impressive collection of government documents and material.Our news and educational discs are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits ... Read more

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Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Czech and Slovak Federal Republic," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Czech and Slovak Federal Republic in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Czech and Slovak Federal Republic when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

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The Moravian Church or Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine is a mainline Protestant denomination. Its religious heritage began in Kunvald late 14th century Bohemia (modern Czech Republic). Its official name is Unitas Fratrum meaning Unity of the Brethren (not to be confused with the small Unity of the Brethren church based in Texas). It is also occasionally referred to as the Bohemian Brethren. It places a high premium on Christian unity, personal piety, missions and music. The church's emblem is the Lamb of God with the flag of victory, surrounded by the Latin inscription: Vicit agnus noster, eum sequamur; or in English: "Our Lamb has conquered, let us follow Him." ... Read more

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In The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare gave the landlocked country of Bohemia a coastline--a famous and, to Czechs, typical example of foreigners' ignorance of the Czech homeland. Although the lands that were once the Kingdom of Bohemia lie at the heart of Europe, Czechs are usually encountered only in the margins of other people's stories. In The Coasts of Bohemia, Derek Sayer reverses this perspective. He presents a comprehensive and long-needed history of the Czech people that is also a remarkably original history of modern Europe, told from its uneasy center.

Sayer shows that Bohemia has long been a theater of European conflict. It has been a cradle of Protestantism and a bulwark of the Counter-Reformation; an Austrian imperial province and a proudly Slavic national state; the most easterly democracy in Europe; and a westerly outlier of the Soviet bloc. The complexities of its location have given rise to profound (and often profoundly comic) reflections on the modern condition. Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hasek, Karel Capek and Milan Kundera are all products of its spirit of place. Sayer describes how Bohemia's ambiguities and contradictions are those of Europe itself, and he considers the ironies of viewing Europe, the West, and modernity from the vantage point of a country that has been too often ignored.

The Coasts of Bohemia draws on an enormous array of literary, musical, visual, and documentary sources ranging from banknotes to statues, museum displays to school textbooks, funeral orations to operatic stage-sets, murals in subway stations to censors' indexes of banned books. It brings us into intimate contact with the ever changing details of daily life--the street names and facades of buildings, the heroes figured on postage stamps--that have created and recreated a sense of what it is to be Czech. Sayer's sustained concern with questions of identity, memory, and power place the book at the heart of contemporary intellectual debate. It is an extraordinary story, beautifully told.Amazon.com Review
In The Winter's Tale, a play of 1610, WilliamShakespeare gave a coastline to Bohemia, a landlocked country. Threehundred and twenty-eight years later, his compatriot NevilleChamberlain would call a brewing war in Czechoslovakia, as the countrywas called, "a quarrel in a far away country between people ofwhom we know nothing." As Canadian scholar Sayer writes,knowingly, Bohemia eventually got its coastline, one "guarded byminefields, barbed-wire fences, and tall watchtowers with machineguns," while the West took little notice. The general ignoranceof all things Czech would cost Europe dearly, for conflagrations fromthe Thirty Years War to World War II (and even sparks that might haveignited World War III) have begun in the tiny country known by manynames---Czechoslovakia, Bohemia, Moravia. Canadian scholar Sayerwrites of the Czechs' struggle over centuries to define themselves asa people and nation, and he does so in a vivid, detailed narrativethat will enlighten readers who are unfamiliar with the criticallyimportant center of Eastern Europe.--Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Not a history - More of a bore
If a book claims to be a history of a place, then it should at least give the reader decent coverage of the history of that place.But this book fails in that most basic requirement.The author is much more interested in discussing Alfons Mucha and how the Munich Agreement affected this relatively unknown artist than he is in discussing how Czechoslovakia ended up the victim of Hitler.But that fairly well reflects the book as it is more a history of various Czech authors and artists than it is of the Czech people.

The back of the book makes the claim that the book is a "comprehensive history of the Czech people."Unfortunately this is not true.Turn to any page and instead of reading about an event in Czech history, you will read about a sculptor or magazine editor and how they felt about some event that is never actually explained.The book is a struggle to get through if you are not already familiar with the history of Bohemia.If you don't know much about the Slansky trials of the early 1950's, don't expect to know more after reading this book other than what books were banned.And for some unexplained reason, the author decided to end his book in 1960, just before the the reforms that led to the Velvet Revolution.I learned much more about Czech history reading "Under the Cruel Star" than I did reading this book.

Perhaps the book would have been better off described as a review of art and literature in Bohemia up until 1960.At least the book would have been more accurate in its description.After reading this book, I do not feel that I understand the people of the Czech Republic any better than when I started.I can truly say that this is a book that I did not enjoy reading in the least.If ever there was a book that made me feel I wasted my money, this is that book.

Poetic scholarship!
Anybody wanting to gain a deeper knowledge of the Czech people, Czech culture, and Czech spirit should read Derek Sayer's 'The Coasts of Bohemia.'Anybody wanting to dive into the sticky mess of Central European history would also do well to read this book.And those unbelievers who think that a scholarly work must be by its very nature dry and dense, MUST read this book.

Sayer's work stands alone in the veritable dearth of good works dealing with Czechdom.A towering mountain, 'Coasts' is far and away the best door to a culture and nation little understood in the 'West.'In this monumental work, Sayer continues in the grand tradition of Czech historiography started by the grand master of Czech history, Palácky.And like Palácky before him, Sayer attempts to give an answer to that elusive question:Who are the Czechs?

Starting his work with the formulators of written Czech, Josef Jungmann and Josef Dobrovsky, Sayer makes a wise decision. During the Hapsburg rule from 1620 to 1918, the only real home of Czechdom was Cestina, the Czech language.From there, Sayer takes the reader on a serpintine journey through the heart of Czech cultural consciousness.We meet up with poets of the national awakening like Karel Hynek Macha, whose epic poem, 'Máj,' could easily be considered the Czech people's Aeneid, a work that defines who they are as a voice in the cacophony of Europe.Critics of culture like F.X. Salda and voices of modernism in Czech culture like Kundera or the Noble Prize-winning poet, Jaroslav Seifert, also make appearances as Sayer makes a case for the Czech artistic voice being paramount in the creation of national identity.Sayer shows how even supposedly 'international' art trends like surrealism and social-realism all served a very selective end: the search for national identity.

In the realm of politics and ideology, Sayer argues that the Czechs have pursued an uniquely singular course throughout their history.The first people in Europe to rebel against catholic uniformity (hence the term 'bohemian'), Czech preacher, Jan Hus, laid the groundwork for Luther's more cathartic 'reformation.'The followers of Hus, the 'Hussites' not only preached a more Gospel-centered Christian creed stripped of the Roman church's ceremony and tradition, but promoted a lifestyle of radical egaliterianism.This conception of a rank-less society more than anything irked the Catholic Hapsburgs who waged a long and savage war with the Hussites until 1620 when the Austrian Hapsburgs put their unruly neighbors under the boot of Catholic rule until the demise of Austro-Hungary in 1918.Sayer argues that the coals of Hussiterian democracy never cooled down completely but instead smoldered on until the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918.This grand social experiment led by the teacher-ideologue, Tomas Masaryk, proved to be Central Europe's only real democracy during the years between both world wars.Yet, Sayer makes a strong claim that Hussitism only gained full resurrection (albeit in a radically perverse form) with the ascension to power of the Czech Communist Party in 1948.The Hussite dream of a radical levelling of all economic and social class was made real with the party's drastic restructuring of Czech society which included the violent expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the Czech lands, the shameful odsun of 1946-47.Czech communists soon took their ideology of 'people's democracy' to such radical extremes that they stamped out all forms of dissent in their quest to create uniform Czech society.Kundera's novels paint a grim picture of a society which sought to regulate, control and oppress its citizens in even the most intimate of spheres.

By the time the reader finishes 'Coasts,' he/she will not only be wiser by far, but quite exhausted as well. The sheer detail and volume of Sayer's information threatens at times to overwhelm the reader.That one quarter of the book is devoted to 'notes' is not by chance.Yet, even these notes are fascinating cultural and historical tidbits.If Sayer's work has a flaw, it lies in the author's selection of material.Selection is the most crucial (and most difficult) element of historiography. What to include, what to exclude, not only makes or breaks a work, but also carries echoes for generations to come.Who and what is left out of the history books is often doomed to oblivion in day to day life as well.Thus said, Sayer's work attempts to define Czechness around a deliberately tiny base.That of one province, Bohemia.While Bohemia did suffer the lion's share of conflict with the neighboring Germans as well as play a central role in the national awakening, two other Czech lands, Moravia and Czech Silesia have also played crucial roles in the formation of Czech identity.Some of the most internationally-known Czech artists originate from these parts i.e. Kundera, Janácek, Lysohorsky and even Mucha.Unfortunately, Sayer glosses over the cultural and historical connections with these lesser-known Bohemias.Moreover, his treatment of Slovakia's role in the making of the Czech nation and Czechoslovak 'idea' is cursory at best.A grievious absence considering the prominent role many Slovaks have played in Czech political life from Masaryk to Dubcek.

All in all though, there is little room to complain.Sayer's work has filled a gapping hole in Central European studies.A profound act of scholarship and one written in a style approaching the lyric, 'The Coasts of Bohemia' is a giant indeed.Read it!

The Coasts of Bohemia -- a truly beautiful voyage of discovery
Derek Sayer's book is exceptional well written and informative, indeed the text is positively lyrical at times. The aim is to provide an understanding of a "people of whom we know nothing" in Central Europe, and Sayer does a masterful task in shaping and clarifying Czech national identity and national culture.

The book is not simply a historical text. While the history is there, and while there is copious scholarly detail and referencing of historical events, the main strength of the text is in illustrating a deep national awareness in literature and the arts. One can almost imagine walking with Sayer on his return visit to Prague, walking through the magical streets of this beautiful city and commenting on buildings, street names, and monuments. He has a delicate but assured ability for capturing detail, coincidence, and irony. The book reads very well and it is amazing to remember that the original text was written in Czech and translated into English by the author's wife.

This is an excellent way of understanding more about Czech lands and the Czech spirit and identity. It is a very beautiful literary work that rejoices in the artistic and literary richness of the Czechs, particularly over the last century. I, for one, am very grateful that Derek Sayer made it back to his homeland to reflect on complex issues of history, national identity, and national culture and to write this masterful book: a must for those of us who love the Czech lands and their peoples.

Where is My Home?
Sayer takes an original, creative approach in writing the history of Czech culture.Sayer's book is predicated on the notion that the nation is an imagined community, constantly being re-invented and examines what Czechs have long remembered and forgotten about themselves and their little nation.
The book is unique because Sayer does not employ the typical linear approach to writing history, rather, he casts a wide net over the entire spectrum of Czech intellectual activity from 1618-1960, focusing on the cultural borders of language, symbols, and identity vis-vis the Germans just to name a few.Sayer brings the seemingly obscure to life in a lucid, pleasurable read.
The book highlights the Czech feeling of "smallness" or "malostnosti" within Europe.The Czechs have long been at the center of political, cultural, and philsophical developments over the course of history but tragically were often passive observers to events in their own land due to being subjects of other nations' empires.As a consequence, Czechs felt a powerful need to define their cultural coastlines.Their national anthem, "Gde Domov Muj" or "Where is My Home" is indicative of the Czech historical quest for identity and national destiny.
Sayer takes leave of his story circa 1960 when socialism was at its appogee.This tremendous book is the difinitive source of Czech historical culture.To understand the challenges of integrating the "East" into the EU and the senstivities of small nations, read this book.

A Czech "Cultural" History
A previous reviewer is right--this is not a Czech history.But it is the history of how Czech culture has been formed.For that, it is fascinating--For a straight history, look elsewhere.If you are travelling to Prague, it will make many sites much richer--Vysehrad cemetery, the National Theatre, Old Town Square. ... Read more

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