Prague in Black and Gold: The History of a City

Brings to the ligth several detailed aspects from the Czech history and helps to understand several local situations, that when you are a foreigner is a little hard to understand.Besides I could see that is bibliography and referent on several Wikipedia articles.I hope this would be useful for someone :)

Before venturing to Prague for the first time I wanted to learn more about the city. I ended up reading Peter Demetz' excellent 'Prague in Black and Gold' about life in Czechoslovakia's great capital. In the foreword to the book the author says that the title of the book comes from the fact that many of the best and worst developments in European history have played out in this European capital. Today we are well acquainted with the 'gold' which the city offers. Tourists know well streets lined with awe-inspring Gothic and Bohemian architecture, the air of mysticism stemming from the city's alchemist past which permeates the city, and good food and beer in plenitude. The 'black' of the city tends, however, to be glossed over more easily - the ethnic conflicts throughout the ages, the pogroms, retaliatory executions in the second world war and soviet putdowns of popular uprising in the years which followed.I came into the book knowing practically nothing about Prague, nor much about European history in general. The book covers the history of the city, and the figures who made it, from the founding of the city through to about 1939, ending with the death of T.G Masaryk. It's not particularly light reading and I must admit that I struggled to finish this one, in part due to a mismatch in what I was looking for, and in part due to the authors writing style. I was searching for an overview of the history of Prague in anticipation of a trip to the city to make myself a slightly more informed tourist. I think the book does a good job of covering the early history of the city. The story of Libuše, legendary ancestor to the Přemyslid dynasty, is fascinating. The author's discussions of the various groups; the Czechs, the Jews, the Italians and the Germans, and the various collaborations and conflicts that arose between them are fascinating. There's also a fair bit of linguistic information which I found really interesting. It seems that many famous Czechs (T.G Masaryk, Franz Kafka...) did not actually even have a solid knowledge of the Czech language due to the large number of languages, and their dialects, which were spoken. In reading this book I realize how rich, complex and dynamic European history really is. I enjoyed reading about various rulers such as Ottokar II, Charles IV, Rudolf II and the roles they played in the Holy Roman Empire or their interactions with the Habsburg dynasty. Chapters on Jan Hus and the Hussite revolution were also rich with detail. The author at one point says "Prague has always been a dual or triple city, and its topography has changed with the language that was spoken and the religion that was espoused." and in expounding on this I feel his scholarship is outstanding.I was a bit disappointed that the history stops in 1939 and I was left wanting to know more about Prague in the second world-war and under communist rule, until present day. The epilogue of this book is particularly moving. The author discusses his return to prague and he says that:"I know Prague, and do not know it. It has continued to exist, and so have I, but somewhere else. I am sad that my shoes left no trace on the sidewalk, that my eyes have burned no holes in the stones... I mingle with the living, but the dead and the killed push their way in between—my mother, my mother’s mother, and others as well: Paul Kisch, Egon Erwin’s brother, who on the eve of his deportation to the death camps greeted me in the full regalia of German fraternity students of the past; Waldtraut W., a German medical student from the northern Bohemian mountains whom I was crazy about, killed in front of the Jesuit church by an aerial mine dropped over Prague by Allied bombers on their return from Dresden; our neighbor the Catholic poet Josef Kostohryz, whom the Communist courts of terror sentenced to a long prison term and who subsequently vegetated and died penniless."Evidently the history stops in 1939 because the rest is just too painful to write about, and I respect this, for to live through such an experience is something quite different than to read about it on the pages of a book. I will quench my curiosity for the remainder of Pragues history from a different source then. I liked that the view offered of Prague is one which is personal, yet rooted in historical accuracy. The author denounces Prague the mystical and states "I am waiting for someone, at long last, to start speaking of Prague as the city of analytic minds and rationalists:". I think it's nice to have this perspective, which runs counter to that of the 'mystical Prague' espoused by tourists.A short word on readability. Of course this is a subjective gripe but I found the book heavy reading due to the author's writing style. Sentences tend to be long compound sentences which feel overly decorated. His vocabulary is rich but it sometimes felt unnecessary. "Never use  a  long word where a short one will do" from George Orwell's six rules for writing come to mind. Other more advanced readers will no doubt find no fault with the author's prose.

Arrived on time well packaged. Bought for a friend for Christmas. She was very happy with it.

Many reviewers noted that one should visit Prague before reading this book. I must admit it to be so. I spent from 1996 thru 2005 in and out of Prague. My office was at 22 Paris Street, just up from the river and across from the old Jewish Synagogue. I would walk to my office each morning through the Old Town Square and down Paris Street.To understand Prague and even the Czech people there were three events that stuck in my mind. First, since I was somewhat comfortable in Russian, and Czech is close in some ways, I asked my Czech partner if I should try Czech. His reply was straight our; no, since only 5 million spoke it and they understood English so do not waste my time. Second, I was with my Greek partners on the Karol Bridge with all the statues, we walked across, and the Greeks turned to me and said; did I see all the statues? Well from New York originally we try not to look around too much so I really did not see them as the Greeks did. So I said no and why? The said; there were no smiles! Third; when I got there the first foreign language was German, when I left it was English. Then there was a fourth worth noting. We went to visit some customer in Vienna. The Czechs were nervous to the extreme. These were Austrians, and they saw them in an historical context and superior. Fortunately as a New Yorker I saw them as just another human, and had no historical context. The latter Americanism actually worked; this time.Thus to understand Prague and the Czechs is to understand the history of Europe. Parisian bars, German food, American slang. And also Czech culture.This book tries to lay out the Czech culture. For example in the Chapter on Charles IV, the great Czech leader in the mid 14th century, we see his growth from the Battle of Crecy in 1346 and then through his reign. Charles founds the University, one of the best in Europe, he corresponds with Petrarch and tries to convince him to come to the new University. Charles confers with the Pope in Avignon and is crowned in Rome. This reign established him as a major leader in European history and the move from the Middle Ages into current times. The author presents this period with exceptional clarity and insight.Needless to say the author presents the rest of Czech History, with Prague at its focus, up to the fall to the Nazis. Then he has a closing Chapter describing his return after the fall of the Communists. The telling part is the change in Czech language is the most interesting. The Czech of the author upon his return was the Czech of the classic days. Whereas the Czech of his return was modern Czech. I have seen this with many who had left after the War and returned. The language changed, phrases, pronunciation, style, and fluidity.When I first read this book when firt published in 1997 I had just bee introduced to Prague. After almost ten years of highs and lows and highs in Prague, I came to love it. In rereading the book, I can now fall in love with it as well. If one gets Prague in one's blood, it is like Paris, there can be no other. The author shows this with great clarity. It is not just a history of a city but the soul of a center of civilization. Visit Prague, take it in, and then this is a must read!

Interesting but a bit "deep". It would be great if the author summarizes a little bit. You can get a great understanding of Prague but some effort is requires