A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526-1918:

a bit too , highly detailed , for someone with prior knowledge of the subject , with lots reading time. will read some day when I have lots of time .

Robert Kann was a Viennese Professor of History who taught at several American universities during his career. He was a recognized authority in his field, and this volume is one of the very best general histories of the Habsburg Monarchy currently in print. However, it was written in Professor Kann's second language, English; so the reading is choppy at times. In addition, the subject matter is extremely complex; so if you are expecting a page-turner, this may not be for you. Overall, if you want to know about the last 400 years of the Habsburgs, there are few better sources.

I enjoyed reading the book. It gave me a good feeling for continental diplomatic history, a subject many americans dont know having focussed on the american revolution. I found it to be scholastically refined. It can be considered a good source for the origins and causes of WWI (and consequently the current yugoslav question). Criticisms might include a Hegelian like grammatical structure, as well as a lack of introduction to terms; there is no front porch on this book. There are also a number of misprints.