Empire-Building and Nation-Building in Central Europe: Zoltan Laszlo (18811961) in the Turmoil of the 20th Century / Krisztian Csaplar-Degovics.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Csaplár-Degovics, Krisztián, Author.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Budapest New York Central European University Press, [2026]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This book reconstructs the intellectual and political trajectory of Zoltan Laszlo (18811961), a representative figure of the East-Central European middle-class intelligentsia. His shifting positionson nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, antisemitism, racism, and anticommunismmirror the broader ideological and political transformations of the region from the nineteenth century to the aftermath of the Second World War. Before 1914, Laszlo established himself as a journalist, writer, academic, and willing agent of Austro-Hungarian imperial policy. In the interwar period and during the Second World War, his expertise as a propagandist found expression in racist circles. By examining Laszlos life as a case study, the book offers a microhistorical perspective on how members of the educated middle classes became implicated in, and often willing participants of, imperial, racist, and totalitarian projects. It demonstrates how the lived experience of one individual illuminates the complex entanglement of ideology, identity, and power in East-Central Europes modern history.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

I. A Citizen of Vienna

1. Zoltan Laszlos Father Mihaly (18491932) and His Milieu

2. Childhood and Secondary School

3. Young Adulthood

4. Adventures in Bosnia-Herzegovina

5. The Ambitious Journalist

6. The Creative Writer

7. The Orientalist

8. A Hungarian Soldier in the Service of Emperor Franz Joseph

Part II. A Citizen of Budapest

9. Life after the Catastrophe

10. Racial Protectionism in Everyday Life

11. Everyday Turanism in the Interwar Period

12. Laszlos Links to Interwar Hungarys Extreme Right

13. His Final Years

Conclusion

Sources and Secondary Literature

The Works of Zoltan Laszlo

Index of Names

Index of Places

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed April 28 2026)

ISBN:

963-386-786-X