Seventeen stories from one of Europe's most enchanting cities.

In his new book, Vienna and Chicago, Friends or Foes? economist and author Mark Skousen debates the Austrian and Chicago schools of free-market economics, two schools in constant, heated disagreement in their theories of money, business cycle, government policy, and methodology.

“A rather dull girl…with no looks to speak of.” Doctor Charles Trescombe’s opinion of his niece’s governess was far from complimentary. Cordelia knew she was plain. She also knew what good manners were, and the high-and-mighty doctor didn’t have any! But there was magic in Vienna that could transform even the most unlikely people. Much to her dismay, Cordelia fell in love with him anyway. And Charles soon discovered that quiet and unassuming ways had a knack for stealing a man’s heart—without him even realizing it.

The Condor; The Ancient Seal; Tourmaline; Granite: Confidence; Prose Poem (from Indian summer); The Eclipse of the Sun in 1842; My Life: An Autobiographical Sketch; Preface to Colored Stones. 165 pages, retailing at $14.95 "Alexander Stillmark is Emeritus Reader in German at University College London. A comparative literary scholar and a leading specialist in Austrian Studies, he has published widely on nineteenth and twentieth century topics. His translation both from and into German include: Georg Trakl, Poems and Prose (London 2001; Evanston Illinois 2005); Gedichte in Prosa Von der Romantik bis zur Jahrhundertwende (Frankfurt am Main, 2013); and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, An Impossible Man (Cambridge, 2016).."

Embrace the enchantment and thrill of Vienna's captivating stories as you delve into the city's rich history, folklore, and supernatural mysteries. In the heart of Vienna's school corridors, a peculiar teacher harbors a surprising secret: a passion for donning clown attire in his off-hours. Experience the chilling tale of a woman's crippling fear of cats, an aversion that threatens to consume her very existence. Step into the world of Royal Poodle, the devoted dog companion of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, also known as "Sisi."Venture into the mystical realm of the Wienerwald Witch Coven, a secret society of women wielding ancient magic.Delve into the enigma of the Dancing Plague of 1518, a bizarre historical episode in which individuals were seized by an irresistible urge to dance until exhaustion or death. Embrace the allure of the Devils Ball, an enigmatic gathering of the supernatural.

"Vienna is a city with a storied past - and the stories in this collection give life and breath to that past. As might be expected from fictions about a city that was once home to Sigmund Freud, there is soul searching here, along with a wide range of insights into the human condition. There is humor too, exemplified in the first story, in which a sincere but ill-informed tour guide (mis)leads tourists around Vienna from morning to night. Although the stories are grouped by the city's neighborhoods, you will surely want to trespass these boundaries."--BOOK JACKET.

Gabriel Allon's nightmares come back to haunt him in this tense thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva. Art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Vienna to discover the truth behind a bombing that killed an old friend, but while there he encounters something that turns his world upside down. It is a face—a face that feels hauntingly familiar, a face that chills him to the bone. While desperately searching for answers, Allon will uncover a portrait of evil stretching across sixty years and thousands of lives—and into his own personal nightmares...

Captured in a beautiful package, including more than fifty color photographs, The Last Waltz tells the intriguing story of of the Viennese Strauss family known for producing some of the best known, best loved music of the nineteenth century. Johann and Josef Strauss, the Waltz Kings, composed hundreds of instantly recognizable and enduring melodies, including The Blue Danube Waltz, Tales from the Vienna Woods, Voices of Spring and The Radetzky March. Their iconic music has been featured on the scores of nearly a thousand films. Yet despite their success, this was a family riven with tension, feuds and jealousy, living in a country that was undergoing seismic upheaval. Through the personal and political chaos, the Strauss family continued to compose music to which the Viennese – anxious to forget their troubles – could dance and drank champagne, even as their country hurtled towards oblivion at the hands of the First World War. Classical music expert and radio host John Suchet skillfully portrays this gripping story, capturing the family dramas, the tensions, triumphs and disasters against the turbulent backdrop of Austria in the nineteenth century, from revolution to regicide.

An astonishing and fantastical autobiographical novel--reminiscent of Italo Calvino and Laurence Sterne--"The System of Vienna" details Jonke's travels through Vienna by streetcar, reporting the bizarre and frustrating encounters he experiences as he progresses--and meanwhile moving not just from trolley-stop to trolley-stop, but through life as well, from innocence to disillusionment, birth to death. Jonke meets a paranoiac fish wholesaler who believes he is directing all of Austrian politics from his little stall, a stamp collector in such deadly earnest he hopes to be appointed to a professorship in philately, and a compulsive talker who has developed a rigorous economic philosophy out of the most common objects to be found in a Vienna neighborhood. Slowly increasing the comic and fantastic elements in his story until they overwhelm all pretense to autobiography--culminating in a strangely touching love scene between Jonke and a caryatid--"The System of Vienna" reminds us that the very act of describing a life turns it into fiction.