“Fichtner has produced a lucid and succinct account of a complicated history, and a readable and persuasive synthesis of recent research. . . . [Hers is] an argument that has the great virtue of making coherent a dynastic history that pursued a similar cultural agenda across the course of hundreds of years.”

BBC History Magazine

“Coinciding neatly with the one-hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, the publication of Fichtner’s new book sheds fresh light on the history of the dynasty at the center of events in the summer of 1914. General histories of the Habsburgs are plentiful, so it is greatly to the author’s credit that she provides a new angle on the great survivors among Europe’s ruling houses. . . . Fichtner crafts a fine narrative. . . . One can end by reiterating how valuable an addition to the literature this is. Fichtner provides a vivid, up-to-date survey, which has much to offer those both unfamiliar and already familiar with the topic.”

European History Quarterly

“An admirable work of scholarship and good judgment, which utilizes the resources of cultural history fully to explore how the dynasty created and fostered its image, while providing a wealth of information in wider spheres.”

Journal of Modern History

“Writing the history of the Habsburgs from the very beginning until Charles I, as Fichtner sets out to do . . . , seems like an extremely risky but rewarding undertaking, and one that she successfully accomplishes.”

European Review of History

“A thoroughly readable presentation of cultural history and dynastic propaganda that, unlike most of histories of the Habsburgs, takes the story up to the present.”

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