The "book" on Vienna

The world is teeming with books, as we well know - so which could we possibly recommend for a city such as Vienna? To kick off this section, we like to present to you books recommended by www.vienna-life.com/vienna/books .

The World of Yesterday - Stefan Zweig

Quoted left right and centre by just about anyone who's written about Vienna since 1945, this book is an impassioned, exasperated ode to a culture that was swept away by two world wars. Zweig was an assimilated Austrian Jew, and he completed this manuscript from exile in Brazil in 1942. The following day, he and his wife ended their lives in a pre-meditated suicide pact.

Vienna: A Travellers' Companion - Compiled by John Lehmann and Richard Bassett

Out of print now, but it's easy enough to find on the internet through used-book portals. The 'Travellers' Companion' brings together scores of reminiscences about Vienna in congenial bite-sized morsels. The book spans several centuries, with everything from front-line accounts of the 1683 Siege to first-hand character sketches of Mozart and Mahler. A true treasure trove.

The Phoenix Land - Miklos Banffy

The twilight of Habsburg rule was founded on the compromise of a Dual Monarchy with Hungary. Count Milklos Banffy looks at the last days from the Hungarian perspective, beginning with a vivid and entertaining account of the final Habsburg coronation, which he personally organised in 1916.