Danubia

'It combines history, travelogue and digressive personal essay. Winder is a puppyishly enthusiastic companion: funny, erudite, frequently irritating, always more in control of his material than he pretends to be, and never for a moment boring . . . Danubia is a moving book, and also a sensuous one . . . Miniaturist in its eye for detail, grand in its scope, it skips beats and keeps our attention all the way'Sarah Bakewell, Financial Times

'A fresh look at a region and a dynasty of which most of us in the English-speaking world are quite ignorant' Guardian

‘Memorably funny . . . wonderfully readable and entertaining’ Sunday Times

‘Danubia is 500 years of Habsburg imperial history told in the style of a bumbling English detective, the kind of sleuth who appears to skirt around a knotty case and then disarmingly poses a penetrating question . . . As with his previous work Germania, Winder describes this account as a “personal history”, allowing him space for whimsy, for a great deal of Haydn, for careful analysis of paintings and the freedom to favour certain emperors because they were interesting people rather than political heavyweights. It all makes for an excellent, rich and amusing read’ The Times, Book of the Week