McGuigan D. G. Familie Habsburg. 1273 bis 1918 (1989)

No dynasty of the Western World lends itself more dramatically to personal history than the Habsburgs, an aristocratic line which produced women and children in all history. In addition to their vital involvement with the military, political, religious, and matrimonial affairs of Western Europe for six hundred years, the Habsburgs excelled in their penchants for art and music, for literature and architecture, for philosophy and scientific investigation for the princely sports of hunting and falconing, for wit, wine, food, dancing, and affairs of the heart. They were collectors of crowns, palaces, jewels and zoos.

Throughout the fantastic range of their exploits, they never ceased to be a family, bound together by ties of affection, tradition, and respect as strong as their blood lines. In the most desperate straits, they turned unerringly to each other. Down their long history runs a strain of gallantry, the quality of noblesse oblige, a taste for the splendid gesture, which set the Habsburgs apart.

In this multi-biography, based on the impeccable scholarship that renders the chronicle historically accurate, Dorothy Gies McGuigan presents a warm and winning picture of the Habsburgs as human beings - noble, fallible, wise and foolish.