What Didn't Make It into the History Books

Jan Bauer, one of the most prolific – and also most-read – authors focusing on Czech history, has compiled this book from twenty-seven fascinating stories from our nation's past. In the introduction, he asserts (perhaps justifiably) that few nations have a history as interesting as we – Czechs, Moravians, and Silesians – do. Perhaps it's because our territory has long been a crossroads of influences and cultures, or maybe it's due to our ingenuity, which sometimes slips into discord and a flippant disregard for promises…

Be that as it may, in the author's engaging narrative, figures from ancient, even mythical, history parade before us – Krok, Saint Procopius, or the figures depicted on the walls of the Rotunda of St Catherine in Znojmo. Then there are medieval figures – where the aforementioned discord plays a significant role... and even quite recent ones (though this “recency” is a relative term; let’s be honest, who today knows anything detailed about the once-famous criminal Lecián or the “seedling general” Šejna?).).

Jan Bauer traces their footsteps and legacy – in a manner that is both accessible and knowledgeable, with a sense of humour and an eye for the international context of Czech history. His stories bring to life the rise and fall of Charles IV's prominent prisoner Cola di Rienzo, the marriage of “Good Queen Anne”, whom her brother Wenceslas IV apparently really did sell to England, the fateful visit to Poland made by the holy martyr Jan Sarkander, as well as the intimate and violent transgressions of rulers and nobles… And that's just a small taste of what you can look forward to now that you have picked up this 17th volume of the Český ČAS Edition.