The Grand Spas of Central Europe leads readers on an irresistible tour through the grand spa towns of Central Europeâfabled places like Baden-Baden, Bad Ems, Bad Gastein, Karlsbad, and Marienbad. Noted historian David Clay Large follows the grand spa story from Greco-Roman antiquity to the present, focusing especially on the years between the French Revolution and World War II, a period in which the major Central European Kurorte ("cure-towns") reached their peak of influence and then slipped into decline.
Written with verve and affection, the book explores the grand spa towns, which in their prime were an equivalent of today's major medical centers, rehab retreats, golf resorts, conference complexes, fashion shows, music festivals, and sexual hideawaysâall rolled into one. Conventional medicine being quite primitive through most of this era, people went to the spas in hopes of curing everything from cancer to gout. But often as not "curists" also went to play, to be entertained, and to socialize. In their heyday the grand spas were hotbeds of cultural creativity, true meccas of the arts. High-level politics was another grand spa specialty, with statesmen descending on the Kurorte to negotiate treaties, craft alliances, and plan wars.
This military scheming was just one aspect of a darker side to the grand spa story, one rife with nationalistic rivalries, ethnic hatred, and racial prejudice. The grand spas, it turns out, were microcosms of changing sociopolitical realitiesânot at all the "timeless" oases of harmony they often claimed to be. The Grand Spas of Central Europe holds up a gilt-framed but clear-eyed mirror to the ever-changing face of European societyâdimples, warts, and all.
eBook - ePub
The Grand Spas of Central Europe
A History of Intrigue, Politics, Art, and Healing
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Contents
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Spas and Spa Culture from the Greco-Roman World to the Grand Tour
- Chapter 2: Baden-Baden
- Chapter 3: Muses in the Waters
- Chapter 4: Roulettenburg
- Chapter 5: Politics on the Promenade
- Chapter 6: Modernization and Its Discontents
- Chapter 7: Trouble in Paradise
- Chapter 8: Brown Waters
- Chapter 9: A New Beginning
- Epilogue: The Grand Spas Today
- Acknowledgments
- Principal Sources and Suggestions for Further Reading
- About the Author
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Yes, you can access The Grand Spas of Central Europe by David Clay Large in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & European History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.