The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat

This book takes what could almost be described as a literature review of the history of Hungary. The author appears to have no interest in his own version of Hungarian history, but instead spends much effort on devoting explanation to what previous scholars and historians have written of events in Hungarian history. In some regards, this makes for interesting reading, as it combines in one tome many views of different events. On the other hand, this results in a book that feels incredibly imbalanced. Issues like the early Hungarian state, the first mongol invasion, St. Stephen and Mathias are given short shrift, often with only a few pages dedicated to them. This seems odd given both their importance to Hungarian history. Indeed, the period of fortification between the first and second mongol invasions isn’t even mentioned, nor is the second invasion itself.Conversely, the period of Ottomoan rule is covered in chapter after chapter after chapter despite comprising only around 150 years of time. It is unclear if this overweighted treatment is due to the author’s peculiar interest in this time in Hungarian history, or if it is instead a result of his chosen method of chronicling other sources (in other words, an abundance of other sources about this time period gives the author more to write about). In any event, as mentioned, it leads to a feeling of imbalance regarding the historical timelines.Another complaint (entirely on Amazon) is the numerous spelling and grammatical errors in the kindle version. English not being the first language of the author already leads to some sentences with slightly awkward or confusing construction. Throwing in misspellings caused by the book’s conversion to a digital format (again, not the author’s fault) can compound that confusion and leave the reader guessing as to what was really meant.

I often wondered why Hungary and Hungarians have such poor public relations, particularly in the US. Unfortunately, this book fails to answer that question. It is a fascinating read, if only because it gives, (in parts) a refreshingly different perspective. In others, unfortunately, the Communist-era interpretation of the author's sources is painfully evident. The many details in the narrative are interesting, partly because the selection of the details reveals the author's biases. There are a number of translation errors I found in the book which naturally led to faulty conclusions. P.e. "Honved"(seg)(hon=home, vedni=to defend) is not the militia, it's the standing army. "Nemzet orseg," (nemzet=nation, orseg=guard) is the militia. All in all however, it was worthwhile to read through the book. It will lead those, who are not familiar with the Magyars to some understanding of the background of this nation although will leave them feel shortchanged in understanding their psyche. I sent a copy of the book to both of my (adult) children together with a 16 page commentary.It is a laudable effort on the part of author Lendvai and by and large I believe it will benefit the Hungarians' image as well.

Considering the fact that the author is a journalist and not a historian one should not anticipate an academic history. Read as an introduction and overview for non-specialist, this is an excellent book, perhaps even the best English language publication of recent years. Having shared a life history similar to the author's, except I lived in the United States for the last 60 years, I can relate and share his opinions on our Hungarian roots.

I gave up after WWII. This book gets bogged down in small details about individuals and poorly reveals the overarching themes. I did pick up a few things about how Hungary under the Austrian empire was a place of many nationalities living together with the Magyars. How the language was not spoken by the aristocracy or in government and how speaking the language became the way to ensure Hungarianness. But Hungary is a country trapped between very powerful nations and at the same time the need to be Hungarian blinded them to the machinations of others. It was inspiring to read about the freedoms for Jews in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s which sadly meant many were known and killed. And how the partition after WWI was part of the impetus to ally with Germans before WWII. There must be a more readable history of Hungary. This one is just a blur of names and complicated political machinations.

Ordered the book at a gift and the first 30something pages are from some kind of financial book. $40 for a book is a lot and it’s all messed up.Can’t give a review on the actual book content.

I've always been interested in Hungary and wanted to know some more history of this fascinating place. This book has been a great read - it is informative, goes into interesting detail behind some of Hungary's most famous figures and Hungary's role in the world. Having traveled in both Hungary and Transylvania, it was interesting to read about Hungarian history in that region and has helped me to understand better why there is so much tension between the Hungarian and Romanian populations in places like Targu Mures. It was also nice to get to know the people behind the names I saw so much in Hungary - for instance, there were about a billion streets named after figures like Kossuth, Szechenyi and Eszterhazy. I had no clue who the Ezsterhazys were until reading this book. I wish I had read this book before my trip!I love books that are both informative about history and told in such a compelling way that it is hard to put the book down. This is one of those. It is also one of those books that you are sad to finish. What can I read next to top that fantastic book?? Highly recommended.

Read this prior to a Viking cruise down the Rhine and Danube. Very detailed history of Hungary. I am visiting Budapest soon and wanted some history about the place rather than just a guidebook view of sites to visit. This one may have more with detail than you need to inform your travels. But I was amazed by what I didn't know about Hungary. I guess I hadn't previously given the place much thought. This covers the period from Celtic occupation of the area BCE to post-communism.

This is a fascinating account of the development of the state of Hungary. The country has shrunk from a giant of a nation to a dwarf, When you read about its history you recognize the benefit skilled immigrants can bring to a nation. Hungary had a skilful economic policy way back, we are only just talking about it in Britain now and we are still not entirely convinced.

Excellent insights into the very complicated history of a very complicated people. Thoroughly enjoyed the insights offered by the author.

Concise and readable history of an often overlooked country.

I've only just started reading this book, but I already like it!

This book's not for the faint at heart. I have a Hungarian background and wanted to know of my history, so I set out to find the largest, thickest book on Hungarian history I could find and this was it.The good part is that it's complete and goes back as far as before there was a country and just a nomadic tribe, all the way to just a few years before the book was written. it has maps that show the morphing of Hungary's borders over time and great historical photographs here and there as well.The bad part is that is written somewhat like a textbook which makes for quite a dry read. There were times where I really had to force myself to try and read a bit more. It's the history of Hungary, written by a Hungarian-born Austrian, in German, then translated to English, so there's a few lost-in-translation sentences and paragraphs that don't make complete sense at first.It's still a great book for someone avidly interested and determined in Hungarian history; for the casual reader it might not be that enjoyable...