Maria Theresa Paperback – February 28, 2013

Oh, goodness. The things that are and aren't wrong with this book.I'm a Crankshaw fan, and have five or six of his books. By far, his strongest is "The Fall of the House of Hapsburg", which I do recommend. He's a fan of Austria-Hungary, or whatever one is calling the Eastern Hapsburg dynastic lands, and he is a proper historian, which means that he's less objective (which, as anyone past fifth form should know, is largely malarkey) and more into taking a thesis and defending it. This book is much along those lines. For those that don't know Crankshaw, he's not a fan of Russia or Prussia, but is very much a fan of Austria.This is problematic for Maria Theresa, as she's not the strongest historical figure in the world, and not the strongest Hapsburg. She's not the Austrian equivalent of Elizabeth I or Catherine the Great; she's a rather lesser figure who it could be argued had less to do with Austria's triumphs than simply sitting on the throne while they happened. The book reflects this, and, curiously for a work on someone who sat the throne a long, long time, spends chapters and chapters and chapters discussing architecture, music, and the like. Not irrelevant to the subject, perhaps, but the book has an odd sense of being misnamed. "Maria Theresa's Austria" might be a more appropriate name for the work, or "The Hapsburg Empire under Maria Theresa". She's a focus of the book, but not the only or even the main focus of the book.I also felt, at times, that he was rather stretching a point to give her full marks in her actions. This is a ruler contemporaneous (sp?) with Frederick the Great, who manages to slow him down somewhat but never in a wildly effective manner, and it's hard for her to share the age with someone so unusual and determined and still come out looking good. Crankshaw is good at defending his theses in his works, but this one often felt stretched a bit far.It tended to ramble a bit, and parts were not particularly interesting - and I'm a fan and devotee of both the Hapsburgs and of this age and this Empire. Not his strongest work. There are worse books about Maria Theresa, but this is not the best of the lot.

Maria Theresa does not get her fair due in history thanks to her rival Frederick the Great. However she is great in her own manner and deserves much more credit than is usually given to her. Ed Crankshaw does her a fair amount of justice in this book. There is plenty of information on this great woman including how she handled different crises in the empire. He does not divulge too much into military talk like many of Frederick's biographers do, but rather he talks about how she prepared her nation for war and led it during those times. He is very sympathetic to the Hapsburgs which I feel is more of a strength than anything else. He also goes into Maria's social policies and her relationship with her family which sometimes borders on the funny (the anti- premarital sex organization was one!). I suggest this book for anyone wanted to know more about this great ruler.

Despite rather good reviews, I found this book very disappointing. To begin with, he makes too many factual errors. At one point he refers to Peter III of Russia as mentally retarded, which he was not. He was obsessive/compulsive to the extreme, often drilling his troops for hours, but no one ever suggested he was retarded. At another point he refers to Catherine II (The Great)saying her first of fifty lovers was Stanislaus Poniatovski, when it is agreed the first was probably Serge Saltykov followed by the Orlov brothers. Some say she had over three hundred lovers. But the major problem I have with this biography is that, like too many others, Mr. Crenshaw, admiring the subject, tends to gloss over her faults or neglects to mention them. At one point he says that she made many good appointments. She put her husband Francis in charge of her army even though he had no military experience; you can guess the results. Then she dismissed Francis and put his brother in charge with similar results. And what about Kaunitz? He also refers repeatedly to Frederick the Great as a "monster" for stealing Silesia. If this is the case Maria Theresa must be a monster for the partitioning of Poland. All of these combine to give me an impression he doesn't know what he is talking about.

My husband and I traveled to Vienna in September which piqued my interest to learn more about Maria Theresa. This book was one of the very few I could find on the subject of her life and reign. It's dry reading and terribly confusing. It assumes that the reader already knows a good deal about the region and the times in which Maria Therese lived. More background, explanations, photos, and maps would have made following the queen's life and times easier to understand.

Maria Theresa, the mother of royalty, entertains and educates. The author opens up the full and complex personality of Maria Theresa for the reader. Wife, mother, ruler, despot, reformer, religious fanatic - it's all covered.Highly recommended!

Lots of details about the life of a woman who had great influence on European history.

loved this book..a great woman

In the 1700's a woman in power was unheard of. The contributions Maria Theresa made are amazing. She took over an empire that was broke and at war, and turned it into something great.

I first came across Maria Teresa in university and surprisingly we only glanced at her, big mistake! She was the Empress of Austria (by accident). Not trained in government, politics and war she still was able to get Austria through one of its most desperate of times. She brought a determination and leadership when it was needed the most. She was conservative thinker, liberal only when it was of pragmatic use, she could be very sweet or very stubborn. She encouraged her advisors to challenge her to make sure she was making the right decision. A mother of 16 children and still took to her duties as Empress with vigour and determination. What is great about this book is that you get to see Maria Teresa up front; both in what she did in government, politics and war but also as a person. I feel the book gave her humanity. She is not portrayed as a feeble minded little girl, snobby rich girl or even very feminist. There are no extremes. Crankshaw shows her as an intelligent woman able to make her own decisions and find the talent in people otherwise overlooked. She is pious and enjoyed being a mother (a good one at that). Crankshaw gives a look into the culture of the nobility and royalty of early modern Europe. He is able to show who they were in public and thus in history’s memory but also behind closed doors. It may be surprising, but she was a normal person. She loved her husband dearly, as did he and her children. She was kind to her staff and to all of her advisors although could become very agitated quickly). Also Crankshaw shows the interaction between royalty and everyone else from advisors to peasants and how each one was perceived. I have so much more to say, but maybe you should just get the book instead. I do think it was slightly embellished at times. I found the best part was the presentation of noble culture, who they were, what they did, how they acted, giving it a real human feel to it. The book really does present Maria Teresa as more than just royalty, but as a person as a mother, wife, ruler and the most impressive person of early modern Europe.

The book is fab and wears it age well. An intimate and engaging account of the great woman. This version however is poor beyond belief - full of errors and mistakes. A good book, not a good buy.

A bit too longwinded. Would have liked more about the family life.