Book Details

"Inside Austria" is a gripping, in-depth personal report on postwar Austria's economic and social success story but also on its turbulent political history. How has this small land-locked country emerged as the European Union's fourth richest member state? Who are the Austrians, one of Europe's oldest people whose nation-state came into being only after the collapse of the Austro- Hungarian empire in 1918? To what extent have they come to terms with the demons of their recent past: Hitler's Anschluss, the Waldheim affair and then later Jorg Haider's disturbing radical right-wing ascendancy in Carinthia? This book is a unique study of the Austrian odyssey, based on a blend of academic research and half a century of personal observation by the Hungarian-born author who as a foreign correspondent and later as a political analyst obtained first-hand information from the politicians who played or are still playing a leading part in the march of events he has described.

'A lively, well-informed volume likely to appeal to the lay reader and the specialist alike. ... Lendvai makes no secret that this is a very personal account yet despite this Austria does not escape the journalist's critical eye, including its infamous past.' - Professor Melanie Sully, Diplomatic Academy, Vienna 'Paul Lendvai has once again succeeded in producing an excellent and enlightening volume, this time about his adopted country. He gives us a personal insight into twentieth century Austrian history and politics, often critical but always full of sympathy. This very fine translation will enable the English-speaking reader to gain unique glimpses of the highly successful Alpine Republic as seen by one of its leading public intellectuals.' - Istvan Deak, Seth Low Professor Emeritus of History, Columbia University

PAUL LENDVAI is a Hungarian-born Austrian journalist who worked as a correspondent for the Financial Times for more than two decades. His prize-winning memoir, Blacklisted: A Journalist's Life in Central Europe, boldly takes stock of the ethnic hatred, political turbulence, and murderous anti-Semitism of twentieth-century Central Europe.