Danubia is a self-proclaimed 'personal history of Habsburg Europe.' The author looks at that important family, whose main branches would rule much or all of Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, the Balkans, and other regions (not to mention hold the title of Holy Roman Emperor) at different times over the centuries. He focuses on areas of particular personal interest, making no attempt to cover things equally.
I put this down after 100 pages. I'd call this a mix of Bill Bryson and Dave Barry, but less interesting than the former and less funny than the latter. Like Bryson, Winder likes to focus on the most interesting bits of history. Not inherently bad, but the approach creates a narrative that (for me) was difficult to follow. Like Barry, Winder is humorous and cynical- but he's not as good. Ultimately, I wanted a cohesive historical narrative of this supremely important family to give me a big-picture view. I want to 'get' the history of Central Europe in particular. Unfortunately, what I got reminded me of a long-winded story/rant you might get from an eccentric, entertaining, armchair-historian-yet not-always-accurate family uncle. With the prose and clarity of Wedgwood fresh on my mind, this fell flat for me. On the plus side, his bibliography holds some promising titles.
Rating: C+
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