Maria Theresa

Rating:
Summary: Bravo! I couldn't put it down!!!
Review: I bought this book to see what was behind the "useless people" remark she made about Mozart and his family. After reading this book, I feel that I know why she made this remark. You will have to read and draw your own conclusion! This book revealed the reasons for some hard decisions made by this remarkable woman and the unbelievable incompetence that surrounded her. After reading this book, you may - or may not like Maria Theresa. I won't go into how I feel, because you may come away completely different. Even though this book is a little old, it is captivating, informative, easy to understand, and you will walk away understanding the history of this woman completely. This is the book to buy if you want to know about Maria Theresa. 338 spell-binding pages. Sorry I don't tell the story of the book in a short review.

Rating:
Summary: Bravo! I could not put this book down!
Review: If you buy this book, you will find all you need to know about Maria Theresa. Rather than tell the story of the book, I will tell you that the author tells an interesting story that will captivate you. You will be suprised by how she maintained - despite her advisors and family. The author is a little hard on Joesph II. You will come out of this book respecting this woman, but "with eyes wide open", knowing her faults. I originally bought this book to find out what was behind the "useless people" remark she used about the Mozarts. I now know why she said that. Buy this book and discover for yourself. Well worth the money! 338 pages and the book may appear a little old; however, the content is spell-binding!

Rating:
Summary: The Great Eighteenth Century Conservative
Review: Maria Theresa is known to some as the empress who hired police to round up prostitutes for "correction" and conducted a nonstop war on vice and excess. True it is that she was a staunch conservative, but she was also a great political survivor. She negotiated two potentially disastrous wars, the War of the Austrian Succession (in which Vienna, and the entire Habsburg Empire almost fell) and the Seven Years War (in which Frederick the Great repeatedly beat Austria's armies), and emerged with her empire weakened, but basically intact. She was complit in the notorious Partitions of Poland, yet in other respects she stood as a bastion against Prussian aggression. Her reign coincided with great contributions to the arts, music and architecture, and her many offspring (including Marie Antoinette) occupied several thrones. Crankshaw's prose style is extremely elegant; few period biographies flow as well as this one. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: The Great Eighteenth Century Conservative
Review: Maria Theresa is known to some as the empress who hired police to round up prostitutes for "correction" and conducted a nonstop war on vice and excess. True it is that she was a staunch conservative, but she was also a great political survivor. She negotiated two potentially disastrous wars, the War of the Austrian Succession (in which Vienna, and the entire Habsburg Empire almost fell) and the Seven Years War (in which Frederick the Great repeatedly beat Austria's armies), and emerged with her empire weakened, but basically intact. She was complit in the notorious Partitions of Poland, yet in other respects she stood as a bastion against Prussian aggression. Her reign coincided with great contributions to the arts, music and architecture, and her many offspring (including Marie Antoinette) occupied several thrones. Crankshaw's prose style is extremely elegant; few period biographies flow as well as this one. Highly recommended.