The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian
The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian

Author: ISTVAN BORI

Publisher: New Europe Books

Published: 2012-07-24

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0982578164

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What is it to be Hungarian? What does it feel like? Most Hungarians are convinced that the rest of the world just doesn't get them. They are right. True, much of the world thinks highly of Hungarians--for reasons ranging from their heroism in the 1956 revolution to their genius as mathematicians, physicists, and financiers. But Hungarians do often seem to be living proof of the old joke that Magyars are in fact Martians: they may be situated in the very heart of Europe, but they are equipped with a confounding language, extraterrestrial (albeit endearing) accents, and an unearthly way of thinking. What most Hungarians learn from life about the Magyar mind is now available, for the first time, in this user-friendly guide to what being Hungarian is all about. The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian brings together twelve authors well-versed in the quintessential ingredients of being Hungarian--from the stereotypical Magyar man to the stereotypical Magyar woman, foods to folk customs, livestock to literature, film to philosophy, politics to porcelain, and scientists to sports. In fifty short, highly readable, often witty, sometimes politically incorrect, but always candid articles, the authors demonstrate that being credibly Hungarian--like being French, Polish or Japanese--is largely a matter of carrying around in your head a potpourri of conceptions and preconceptions acquired over the years from your elders, society, school, the streets, and mass media. Compacting this wealth of knowledge into an irresistible little book, The Essential Guide to Being Hungarian is an indispensable reference that will teach you how to be Hungarian, even if you already are.

Hungary and the Hungarians
Hungary and the Hungarians

Author: Enikő Csukovits

Publisher: Viella Libreria Editrice

Published: 2020-09-14T17:35:00+02:00

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 8833134326

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During the Middle Ages the majority of people in Western Europe never met any Hungarians. They didn’t even hear about them, as news about Hungary only reached Western Europe in times of extraordinary historical events– such as the adoption of Christianity at the turn of the 11th century, or the devastating Tatar invasion in 1241-1242. Obtaining information about the Hungarians from books was also difficult, as medieval Europe, even as late as in the 15th-16th centuries, lacked libraries that would have offered greater numbers of works on Hungary or on Hungarian topics. On top of it all, works that contained the most detailed and accurate information remained unknown, in their own period; posterity only found them in rare manuscript copies discovered much later. Yet once collected, we find that these sources, originating from distant parts of the continent and written for different purposes, contain information about Hungary and the Hungarians that most often reaffirm one another. This work examines these sources and sets out to answer four major questions: What did people in medieval Western Europe know, think, and believe about the Hungarians and Hungary? To what degree was this knowledge constant or fluid over the centuries that made up the medieval era, and were changes in knowledge followed by any changes in appreciation? Where was the country located in the hierarchy of European countries on the basis of the knowledge, suppositions, and beliefs relating to it? What were the most important elements in this image of the Hungarians and of Hungary, and which of them became the most enduring stereotypes?

Hungary's Cold War
Hungary's Cold War

Author: Csaba Békés

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2022-05-03

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 1469667495

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In this magisterial and pathbreaking work, Csaba Bekes shares decades of his research to provide a sweeping examination of Hungary's international relations with both the Soviet Bloc and the West from the end of World War II to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Unlike many studies of the global Cold War that focus on East-West relationships—often from the vantage point of the West—Bekes grounds his work in the East, drawing on little-used, non-English sources. As such, he offers a new and sweeping Cold War narrative using Hungary as a case study, demonstrating that the East-Central European states have played a much more important role in shaping both the Soviet bloc's overall policy and the East-West relationship than previously assumed. Similarly, he shows how the relationship between Moscow and its allies, as well as among the bloc countries, was much more complex than it appeared to most observers in the East and the West alike.

Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages
Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages

Author: András Róna-Tas

Publisher:

Published: 1999-03

Total Pages: 610

ISBN-13:

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Lavishly illustrated, the book contains seventy five historical maps and colour plates which visualize the historical background of Hungary and introduces its early history to a broader readership. The early history of Hungarians is embedded into the history of Eurasia and special attention is given to the relationship of the Hungarians with the Khazars and the Bulghar-Turks. The first part deals with methods and sources which can be used for elucidating the ancient history of the Hungarians, relying on research into linguistics, archaeology, anthropology and natural history. The second part traces how the Hungarians came into the Carpathian Basin and answers such questions as: who are the Magyars, from where did they come and how did they conquer the land? It reconstructs and examines their early political and social structure, the economy, and religion, and compares the Hungarian medieval process with the ethnogenetic processes of the Germanic, Slavic and Turkic people.

Hungary Between Two Empires 1526–1711
Hungary Between Two Empires 1526–1711

Author: Géza Pálffy

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2021-06-08

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 0253054648

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The Hungarian defeat to the Ottoman army at the pivotal Battle of Mohács in 1526 led to the division of the Kingdom of Hungary into three parts, altering both the shape and the ethnic composition of Central Europe for centuries to come. Hungary thus became a battleground between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires. In this sweeping historical survey, Géza Pálffy takes readers through a crucial period of upheaval and revolution in Hungary, which had been the site of a flowering of economic, cultural, and intellectual progress—but battles with the Ottomans lead to over a century of war and devastation. Pálffy explores Hungary's role as both a borderland and a theater of war through the turn of the 18th century. In this way, Hungary became a crucially important field on which key debates over religion, government, law, and monarchy played out. Reflecting 25 years of archival research and presented here in English for the first time, Hungary between Two Empires 1526–1711 offers a fresh and thorough exploration of this key moment in Hungarian history and, in turn, the creation of a modern Europe.

The Lawful Revolution
The Lawful Revolution

Author: István Deák

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 9781842121481

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Hungary's War of Independence was the bloodiest conflict of a European revolutionary era. It excited nationalist passions that have not yet been stilled. The principal actor of the drama was the nobleman, Louis Kossuth. The story of the revolution of 1848, Hungary's most important historic event, is told here in terms of the towering personality of Louis Kossuth. In the spring of that year, Kossuth and his fellow noblemen seized the opportunity presented by the European revolutions to legally restore the sovereignty of the country under the Habsburg Crown. They also introduced many administrative, social and economic reforms. The goals of the reformers however ran into the opposition of the Habsburg Court, the new liberal Austrian government and the non-Magyar peoples of Hungary who feared Hungarian nationalism. In the ensuing war the country was led by Kossuth. The Hungarians lost the war and, in August 1849, Kossuth fled, never to return to his homeland. Louis Kossuth was a forceful, powerful governor-president of Hungary, the people's spokesman and hero but also the symbol of much that they considered calamitous in the national character. At once dynamic and forceful, but also hesitant and weak - he made great provisions for the wounded, veterans, women and orphans but also squandered the lives of his soldiers unnecessarily. He emancipated the peasants and the Jews and, though he died an impoverished exile, he remained a popular idol in Hungary, his name a symbol of the aspiration for independence. His legend grew with the years and was further cultivated after 1945, when Hungary had lost much of the independence for which Kossuth struggled.

Luxury and the Ruling Elite in Socialist Hungary
Luxury and the Ruling Elite in Socialist Hungary

Author: György Majtényi

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0253055954

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After World War II, a new community of elite emerged in Hungary, in spite of the communist principles espoused by the government. In Luxury and the Ruling Elite in Socialist Hungary, György Majtényi allows us a peek inside their affluence. Majtényi exposes the lavish standard of living that the higher echelon enjoyed, complete with pools, Persian rugs, extravagant furniture, servants, and groundskeepers. They shopped in private stores stocked with expensive meats and tropical fruits just for them. They benefited from access to everything from books, telephone lines, and international travel to hunting grounds, soccer games, and even the choicest cemetery plots. But Majtényi also reveals the underbelly of such society, particularly how these privileges were used as a way of maintaining power, initiating or denying entry to party members, and strengthening the very hierarchies that communism promised to abolish. Taking readers on a fascinating and often surprising look inside the manor homes and vacation villas of wealthy post–World War II Hungarians, Majtényi offers fresh insight into the realities of patriarchy, loyalty, gender, and class within the communist regime.

One Must Also Be Hungarian
One Must Also Be Hungarian

Author: Adam Biro

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2008-09-15

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 0226052192

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The only country in the world with a line in its national anthem as desperate as “this people has already suffered for its past and its future,” Hungary is a nation defined by poverty, despair, and conflict. Its history, of course, took an even darker and more tragic turn during the Holocaust. But the story of the Jews in Hungary is also one of survival, heroism, and even humor—and that is the one acclaimed author Adam Biro sets out to recover in One Must Also Be Hungarian, an inspiring and altogether poignant look back at the lives of his family members over the past two hundred years. A Hungarian refugee and celebrated novelist working in Paris, Biro recognizes the enormous sacrifices that his ancestors made to pave the way for his successes and the envious position he occupies as a writer in postwar Europe. Inspired, therefore, to share the story of his family members with his grandson, Biro draws some moving pictures of them here: witty and whimsical vignettes that convey not only their courageous sides, but also their inner fears, angers, jealousies, and weaknesses—traits that lend an indelible humanity to their portraiture. Spanning the turn of the nineteenth century, two destructive world wars, the dramatic rise of communism, and its equally astonishing fall, the stories here convey a particularly Jewish sense of humor and irony throughout—one that made possible their survival amid such enormous adversity possible. Already published to much acclaim in France, One Must Also Be Hungarian is a wry and compulsively readable book that rescues from oblivion the stories of a long-suffering but likewise remarkable and deservedly proud people.

The Hungarian Patient
The Hungarian Patient

Author: Peter Krasztev

Publisher: Central European University Press

Published: 2015-07-01

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 6155053081

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This book presents compelling essays by leading Hungarian and foreign authors on the variety of social movements and parties that seek influence and power in a Hungary mired in deep and manifold crisis. The main question the volume tries to answer is: what can we expect after the fall of the semi-authoritarian Orb n regime in Hungary.ÿ Who will be the new players?ÿ What are their backgrounds? What are their political and social ideals, intentions and methods? The studies in the first section of the volume provide the reader with the reasons of the emergence of these new movements: a deep analysis of the historical, political and cultural background of the current situation. The second part contains essays and case studies which challenge the movements and parties involved to look beyond their current ineffectiveness, and to find ways of meeting the challenges that would allow them to exercise responsible and effective leadership in their time and place. This collection would be the first of the kind both in the field of movement theory/history and democracy studies because it reflects on very recent developments not researched in the international scholarly literature. One would not be able to understand contemporary Hungarian society without reading it before the 2014 elections.

Introduction to Hungarian Law
Introduction to Hungarian Law

Author: Attila Harmathy

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2019-09-20

Total Pages: 694

ISBN-13: 9403506105

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About this book: Introduction to Hungarian Law provides a basic knowledge of legal concepts of Hungary, with special emphasis on practical issues. Hungary’s historical connection to the European legal tradition has enabled the country’s legal system to overcome the legal gap caused by political developments after the Second World War. This practical book, far from a simple second edition of the volume published more than ten years ago, details the full-fledged legal system that has been established prior to and since Hungary became a member of the European Union in 2004, and it contains information concerning the existing legal system. This book provides a comprehensive overview of all major areas of Hungarian law, from constitutional law and administrative law to business law and labour law. What’s in this book: Designed for non-Hungarian practitioners encountering Hungarian law in the course of their work, expert local contributors provide, in English, thorough guidance on legal areas, including the following: constitutional law; administrative law; fiscal and financial law; taxation; family law, property law and succession law; contracts; torts; company law; labour law; copyright and patents; private international law; civil litigation; arbitration; and criminal law and procedure. How this will help you: Practising lawyers in every field, business people seeking international markets and academic researchers, government officials and students will find this volume to be of great practical value. It offers a quick and reliable way into any area of Hungarian law that they may be required to research in order to provide straight and simple answers according to the needs of those who may have to interact with the Hungarian legal system.