The Grand Spas of Central Europe: A History of Intrigue, Politics, Art, and Healing, by David Clay Large
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The Grand Spas of Central Europe: A History of Intrigue, Politics, Art, and Healing, by David Clay Large
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The Grand Spas of Central Europe leads readers on an irresistible tour through the grand spa towns of Central Europe—fabled places like Baden-Baden, Bad Ems, Bad Gastein, Karlsbad, and Marienbad. Noted historian David Clay Large follows the grand spa story from Greco-Roman antiquity to the present, focusing especially on the years between the French Revolution and World War II, a period in which the major Central European Kurorte (“cure-towns”) reached their peak of influence and then slipped into decline. Written with verve and affection, the book explores the grand spa towns, which in their prime were an equivalent of today’s major medical centers, rehab retreats, golf resorts, conference complexes, fashion shows, music festivals, and sexual hideaways—all rolled into one. Conventional medicine being quite primitive through most of this era, people went to the spas in hopes of curing everything from cancer to gout. But often as not “curists” also went to play, to be entertained, and to socialize. In their heyday the grand spas were hotbeds of cultural creativity, true meccas of the arts. High-level politics was another grand spa specialty, with statesmen descending on the Kurorte to negotiate treaties, craft alliances, and plan wars.This military scheming was just one aspect of a darker side to the grand spa story, one rife with nationalistic rivalries, ethnic hatred, and racial prejudice. The grand spas, it turns out, were microcosms of changing sociopolitical realities—not at all the “timeless” oases of harmony they often claimed to be. The Grand Spas of Central Europe holds up a gilt-framed but clear-eyed mirror to the ever-changing face of European society—dimples, warts, and all.
The Grand Spas of Central Europe: A History of Intrigue, Politics, Art, and Healing, by David Clay Large- Amazon Sales Rank: #2141558 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-08
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.26" h x 1.26" w x 6.24" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 476 pages
Review With scintillating wit and a storyteller's élan, David Large is the perfect guide to the colorful history of Europe's spa culture. This is serious scholarship leavened with delicious gossip about spa celebrities, from Beethoven and Tolstoy to Karl Marx and Mark Twain. (Adrienne Mayor, author of The Poison King and The Amazons)In this learned, thoroughly researched, and elegant study, the distinguished Central European historian David Large begins our grand tour of spas with Greek and Roman bathing rituals, carrying his fascinating story into the turn of the twentieth century. (John Merriman, Charles Seymour Professor of History, Yale University)There is no better, more mischievous, more companionable guide to German history than David Clay Large. Once again he has written a book that draws on deep expertise, deep research, a keen knowledge of social texture, and yet reads like a guilty pleasure. The history of the spas reveals modern Europeans wrapped only in towels. (David Quammen, author of The Song of the Dodo and Spillover)This absorbing book is just as diverting and delightful as the places it chronicles once were. Large writes with verve and style, and he knows how to put vivid characters and vignettes to the service of important historical points. An altogether arresting and rewarding overview of modern European history through an unconventional and entertaining lens. (Peter Hayes, Northwestern University)The Grand Spas of Central Europe leads an irresistible tour through the grand spas of Central Europe, tracing their history from classical antiquity to the present but focusing on the spas’ heyday between the French Revolution and World War II. Noted historian David Clay Large vividly shows that fabled “cure-towns” like Baden-Baden, Bad Gastein, and Karlsbad were not just important centers of healing (or attempted healing), but also hotbeds of artistic creation, nests of social intrigue, and gilded venues for high-level politicking.
About the Author David Clay Large is a senior fellow at the Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley, and professor of history at the Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco. He has also taught at Smith College, Yale University, and Montana State University. Among his many books are Berlin, Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936, and Munich1972: Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games. Large divides his time between San Francisco and Bozeman, Montana.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Gout and Glamour: A History of the Spas of Central Europe By Howard J. De Nike The European spa stands in the popular (especially American) consciousness at a crossroads somewhere between edenic retreat and tawdry fleshpot - the former characterized by royal patronage and ostentatious display of the finest offerings in music and fashion, the latter by debauchery, gambling, and phony medical cures.Respected historian David Large’s latest volume offers a welcome serving on both fronts. The focus is on Central Europe with its storied names of Bad Ischl, Karlsbad, and Marienbad featured, but Baden-Baden, Bad Ems, and Wiesbaden receive nearly equal attention.Following a rough historical sequence, Large divides his chapters covering the glittering literary figures who found the waters irresistible, and the imperial families of Europe drawn to the bath's supposed remedial properties - but who also couldn’t resist the opportunity for diplomacy and intrigue. Calling on his bottomless knowledge of European history, Large adroitly blends his spa-story with the behind the scenes account of events preceding WWI.Freud, Nietzsche, even Marx, make their appearances at Marienbad and other “Kurorte” during the years between 1870 and 1914 - the era when the spas truly reached their apogee of popularity. (In contrast, you have the decidedly jaundiced perspective of Mark Twain, who declared Baden-Baden unbearable after a week’s residence.)Perhaps the book’s signal chapter is devoted to the spas' fate during the Nazi era: “Brown Waters” As with all else in the Third Reich, the grand resorts did not escape political exploitation. At first Hitler exhibited an anti-spa stance, but softened when tempted by the proceeds from gambling, especially among foreign visitors. Then, in the war years they provided convenient billeting sites for the Wehrmacht. In the background, the wistful murmurs of the many Jewish patrons can be heard from the years before Nazi anti-semitism had effectively barred their custom.This unique work serves to fill a void in the historical record, one centered on place not person. It is difficult to imagine any author with the talent for research (demonstrated in his numerous previous books) attempting and succeeding on the scale that Large has when it comes to this comprehensive history.Howard J. De Nike, Anthropology Lecturer, University of San Francisco
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Large proves once again that professional historians can write brilliant syntheses with a broad public appeal By C. McClelland Grand Spas takes us for a grand dip into a fascinating (now largely vanished) world of the leisure and health habits of the (mostly) wealthier and well-connected classes of European and American society from the 18th through the 20th centuries. Although there were “baths” (and “springs”) in many other parts of Europe and even the USA, in Central Europe they reached a special pinnacle of sophistication and attractiveness in the nineteenth century. Concentrating on the most famous of these (such as Baden-Baden, Ems or Wiesbaden in Germany, Gastein in Austria or Marienbad in today’s Czech Republic) David Large delivers a highly readable, amusing and well-researched history not only of the spas but of the royals, aristocrats, statesmen, oligarchs and even ordinary middle-class visitors who flocked to them. Following the thread of the “cure”, he manages also to serve up a social and economic history, a convincing picture of an early and fashionable form of summertime vacation activity justified by “doctors’ orders”, and even vignettes from the history of literature and the arts (many spa guests were deeply involved in them and sometimes performed). Many other topics get attention, from casino gambling to match- and deal-making and sex amid the (often) foul-smelling waters. Even though they fell on hard times after World War I, the spas continued to soldier on (despite the rise of much more effective scientific medicine) and may be even experiencing a revival today as places to get away from urban stress. Large proves once again that professional historians can write brilliant syntheses with a broad public appeal.
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