by Monika Czernin
introduction by Dominic Lieven
translated by Jamies Bulloch
Haus Publishing, 2026
Cloth: 978-1-914979-43-9 | eISBN: 978-1-914979-44-6

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS
ABOUT THIS BOOK
An emperor meets his people: the extraordinary journeys of Joseph II.

It is the end of the eighteenth century, and the European royal houses are beginning to falter. The young Habsburg emperor Joseph II realizes that reform is inevitable, and he eagerly soaks up Enlightenment ideas. Incognito, and without the usual pomp and entourage, he travels through his vast empire to see with his own eyes how his subjects live, suffer, and starve.

Along with princes and kings, he meets ordinary people and visits hospitals and factories in his search for new insights that will help him build a modern state. When he visits his sister Marie Antoinette in Versailles, he can see the French Revolution looming on the horizon. By the end of his journey, he had spent a quarter of his twenty-five-year reign on the road. With an introduction by Dominic Lieven and based on countless sources, Monika Czernin’s The Emperor Travels Incognito tells the story of an extraordinary man in an age of great upheaval, who was far ahead of his time.

See other books on: 19th Century | Austria & Hungary | Historical | Lieven, Dominic | Modern
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