A Hungarian prime minister makes a Jewish billionaire into public enemy number one for the sake of an anti-European election campaign. In Barcelona, nationalist politicians go to jail for a vague dream of freedom, and Britain's EU opponents orchestrate Brexit as a fight against German supremacy. Europe is undergoing the greatest crisis since WW2. Konrad Kramar has visited the current hot spots of trouble. Beyond the bluster of populist campaigning and anti-European agitation, he shines a light on the rifts in nations and societies and traces them back to their origins in war, violence and displacement. Kramar explains why current politics has no answers to these crises and shows where solutions might be found.

The Allies had won the war, Hitler was dead, but a fanatic Gauleiter was still set on destroying Europe’s greatest art treasure: an enormous collection of art works confiscated by the Nazis. The Gauleiter gave orders to blow up the tunnels of Altaussee’s salt mine where the stolen art, intended for the ‘Führermuseum’, had been hidden since 1943. Masterpieces by Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer and Leonardo da Vinci were almost blown to pieces. But luckily, a handful of local men from Salzkammergut (and a few accomplices) managed to save the priceless treasure from destruction. Mission Michelangelo is the story of a few brave men and one of the most mysterious episodes from the last days of World War II.

Popes who studied at Arab universities; Turkish princes who grew up with European Emperors’ sons; Persian kings who saved Greek philosophy from destruction. Whether it was banks, minnesingers, or the concept of romantic love – many ideas perceived as western are in fact developments shared between orient and occident. This book shows how there has always been exchange between these purportedly very different cultures and, despite wars and religious differences, how they developed into a unified whole. Dispensing with clichés it describes a cultural cohabitation which extends to the present day. A journey into ourselves and the diversity we hold within us.

The bosom friend of ‘Sisi’, Empress Elisabeth, the highly intelligent, highly attractive aristocrat Marie Festetics, wrote a detailed diary over many years. This sensational source text is finally available in full. Over more than 2000 pages, Festetics provides a no-holes-barred description of life at the imperial court, with all its intrigues – mainly against the empress she so admired. Countess Festetics analyses Sisi’s character and describes her changing emotions and her relationship with Emperor Franz Joseph. She makes razor-sharp judgements of the extended Imperial family and the significant figures of her time. A fascinating journal!

Archduchess Sophie is considered one of the most fascinating figures of the imperial court in Vienna. As the mother of emperor Franz Joseph she played an influential role in the imperial family. Despite her political interests, she was smart enough to stay in the background. Popular portrayals of Sophie as "Sisi's evil mother-in-law" or "the secret empress" are by no means confirmed in her personal notes. Ingrid Haslinger spent many years thoroughly researching archives and examining the complete diaries and letters written by Sophie. The result is a wholly new, highly personal look at a woman so relevant for Austrian history and an intimate portrait of a fascinating life.