Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on
bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Bury Me Standing
by Isabel Fonseca
This marvelous portrait of the Roma, also known as the Gypsies, offers insight into their music, foods, religions and folk traditions and also examines their influential but complex relationship with Eastern Europe.
Budapest, A Cultural History
by Bob Dent
This brilliant guide introduces the history and traditions of this Central European cultural capital, with emphasis on its most important artists and architects.
Budapest Map
by Berndtson & Berndtson
A convenient map of the city center at a scale of 1:11,000.
Prague
by Arthur Phillips
Don't be fooled by the title -- this engaging novel is set in Budapest. Five young American expats have settled themselves in what they consider the "second-best" eastern European city, where chance encounters and interactions determine how their lives will -- or won't -- be changed.
Eyewitness Guide Budapest
by Eyewitness Guides
Featuring handy maps and solid information on culture and history in addition to a detailed overview of attractions. With hundreds of photographs.
Danube
by Claudio Magris
Mixing history, personalities and literature, Magris traces the course of the Danube from its source in the heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire through the Balkans to the Black Sea in this anything but conventional travelogue, first published in 1986.
Eyewitness Guide Prague
by Eyewitness Guides
This superb guide features color photography, dozens of excellent maps and a district-by-district synopsis of the celebrated city's attractions. Handsome, convenient and up-to-date, this is the guide to carry.
Prague, A Traveler's Literary Companion
by Paul Wilson (Editor)
This anthology of 24 vivid stories by Czech writers, both contemporary and well-known, brings the city, history, spirit and people to life.
Prague in Black and Gold, Scenes from Life in a European City
by Peter Demetz
Both a history and an accessible guide to the neighborhoods and architecture of the city.
The Romani Gypsies
by Yaron Matras
Matras delves into the history of the Romani, an ancient and misunderstood European culture that has survived through modern times.
The Hungarians, A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat
by Paul Lendvai, Ann Major (Translator)
A journalist who fled Hungary in 1957, Lendvai combines history, scholarship and anecdote in this uncommonly engaging account. With verve and authority, he covers the struggle of the Magyars' against the Tartars, Turks and Russians over the past millennium.
Danubia, A Personal History of Habsburg Europe
by Simon Winder
Winder, author of Germania (GER270), considers the legacy of the Habsburg Europe in this charmingly digressive history and travelogue.
Prague Map
by Berndtson & Berndtson
A laminated, detailed map of the center of Prague at a scale of 1:10,000.
The Good Soldier Svejk and His Fortunes in the World War
by Jaroslav Hasek, Cecil Parrott (Translator)
The deeply funny story of a hapless Czech soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, dismissed for incompetence only to be pressed into service by the Russians in World War I, then captured by his own troops.
Budapest 1900
by John Lukacs
Written by a distinguished historian and native son, this richly detailed portrait of the city at its zenith includes hundreds of illustrations.
