{"title":"Robert C Austin","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"royal-fraud-book-robert-c-austin-9789633867105","title":"Royal Fraud","description":"Beginning its narrative in 1961, when Albanian King Zog I died in a Paris hospital after 22 years in exile, this book tells the colourful story of this Balkan country's first and only monarch. The road to becoming Europe's youngest president in 1925 and then king of Albania in 1928 was paved with feuds and assassinations, a political career-path common in the region. He craved the throne for several reasons; the Balkans were mostly run by kings, and Zog wanted to impress his mother and also give his six sisters an easy social rise.  Once king, his accomplishments were decidedly meagre. He spent most of his time keeping up appearances as a monarch despite the obvious fraud he had imposed on an illiterate and uninterested population. His one great success was that he had almost all his opponents assassinated, usually in broad daylight abroad.  Zog retained his power until his friend Mussolini ousted him in 1939. On the surface a Westernizer, this self-proclaimed ruler left Albania almost as he found it, with almost no roads or trains, thoroughly uneducated and utterly impoverished.  In his book, Robert Austin combines Zog’s adventurous life story with a studious analysis of Albania's political history from the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the threshold of Euro-Atlantic integration.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49621584511249,"sku":"GOR013755071","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49748319731985,"sku":"NGR9789633867105","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50170751942929,"sku":"CIN963386710XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51067501543697,"sku":"NIN9789633867105","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/963386710X.jpg?v=1764239513"},{"product_id":"history-of-central-europe-book-robert-c-austin-9783030845421","title":"A History of Central Europe","description":"This textbook offers a survey of the history of Central Europe since 1848, from the ‘Springtime of Nations’, through the world wars and communist period, to NATO and EU membership. With an emphasis on nation-building, it gives the reader a better understanding of not just political history but also of the region’s economic development and of everyday life. The book brings the reader right up to the present, considering contemporary issues such as the impact of the 2015 refugee crisis, migration out of Central Europe, the weakening of democratic institutions and the re-emergence of nationalism. Throughout, it offers fresh perspectives, gives agency to Central Europe, and pays attention to the ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity of the region. This is essential reading for students taking courses on Central\/East-Central Europe. It is also suitable for courses on 19th and 20th Century Europe, or for anyone with an interest in the region.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49739460280593,"sku":"NGR9783030845421","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53522422694161,"sku":"NLS9783030845421","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/3030845427.jpg?v=1750966614"},{"product_id":"enver-hoxha-book-robert-c-austin-9781836391661","title":"Enver Hoxha","description":"Featured in New Statesman’s Culture Preview 2026: The best non-fiction to read this year  Enver Hoxha, one of the most fanatical communist leaders of the twentieth century, ruled Albania for forty years. He was a Stalinist modernizer who sought to pull his country out of its peripheral status through rapid industrialization and diplomatic cunning. Albania transitioned from one ideological alliance to another, breaking first with Tito’s Yugoslavia, then Khrushchev’s USSR and lastly post-Maoist China. Masterfully exploiting rivalries within the communist bloc, Hoxha was able to ensure his regime’s survival and play an outsized role in the ideological clashes that riddled the communist world during the second half of the twentieth century. Meanwhile, at home he built a cult of personality and maintained his grip over power by ruthless coercion.         Enver Hoxha: Twentieth-Century Tyrant paints a nuanced picture of Hoxha’s psychological, ideological and political worlds, illuminating a lesser-known story of the Cold War, and enriching our understanding of the nature of authoritarianism and dictatorship.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52489704800529,"sku":"NGR9781836391661","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53069660225809,"sku":"NLS9781836391661","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53396222771473,"sku":"NIN9781836391661","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781836391661.jpg?v=1772790702"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-robert-c-austin.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}