---
product_id: 336750037
title: "Prague in Black and Gold: The History of a City"
brand: "peter demetz"
price: "A$35"
currency: AUD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 5
url: https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/336750037-prague-in-black-and-gold-the-history-of-a-city
store_origin: AU
region: Australia
---

# Prague in Black and Gold: The History of a City

**Brand:** peter demetz
**Price:** A$35
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Prague in Black and Gold: The History of a City by peter demetz
- **How much does it cost?** A$35 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.au](https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/336750037-prague-in-black-and-gold-the-history-of-a-city)

## Best For

- peter demetz enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted peter demetz brand quality
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## Description

Prague in Black and Gold: The History of a City

## Images

![Prague in Black and Gold: The History of a City - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81ooQhFra+L.jpg)
![Prague in Black and Gold: The History of a City - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81vSB7ThDsL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Excelent Prague History book
  

*by A***O on Reviewed in Mexico on 19 July 2022*

Brings to the ligth several detailed aspects from the Czech history and helps to understand several local situations, that when you are a foreigner is a little hard to understand.Besides I could see that is bibliography and referent on several Wikipedia articles.I hope this would be useful for someone :)

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A fascinating but at times incomplete and dry history of the city of Prague.
  

*by K***R on Reviewed in the Netherlands on 18 August 2022*

Before venturing to Prague for the first time I wanted to learn more about the city. I ended up reading Peter Demetz' excellent 'Prague in Black and Gold' about life in Czechoslovakia's great capital. In the foreword to the book the author says that the title of the book comes from the fact that many of the best and worst developments in European history have played out in this European capital. Today we are well acquainted with the 'gold' which the city offers. Tourists know well streets lined with awe-inspring Gothic and Bohemian architecture, the air of mysticism stemming from the city's alchemist past which permeates the city, and good food and beer in plenitude. The 'black' of the city tends, however, to be glossed over more easily - the ethnic conflicts throughout the ages, the pogroms, retaliatory executions in the second world war and soviet putdowns of popular uprising in the years which followed.I came into the book knowing practically nothing about Prague, nor much about European history in general. The book covers the history of the city, and the figures who made it, from the founding of the city through to about 1939, ending with the death of T.G Masaryk. It's not particularly light reading and I must admit that I struggled to finish this one, in part due to a mismatch in what I was looking for, and in part due to the authors writing style. I was searching for an overview of the history of Prague in anticipation of a trip to the city to make myself a slightly more informed tourist. I think the book does a good job of covering the early history of the city. The story of Libuše, legendary ancestor to the Přemyslid dynasty, is fascinating. The author's discussions of the various groups;  the Czechs, the Jews, the Italians and the Germans, and the various collaborations and conflicts that arose between them are fascinating. There's also a fair bit of linguistic information which I found really interesting. It seems that many famous Czechs (T.G Masaryk, Franz Kafka...) did not actually even have a solid knowledge of the Czech language due to the large number of languages, and their dialects, which were spoken. In reading this book I realize how rich, complex and dynamic European history really is. I enjoyed reading about various rulers such as Ottokar II, Charles IV, Rudolf II and the roles they played in the Holy Roman Empire or their interactions with the Habsburg dynasty. Chapters on Jan Hus and the Hussite revolution were also rich with detail. The author at one point says "Prague has always been a dual or triple city, and its topography has changed with the language that was spoken and the religion that was espoused." and in expounding on this I feel his scholarship is outstanding.I was a bit disappointed that the history stops in 1939 and I was left wanting to know more about Prague in the second world-war and under communist rule, until present day. The epilogue of this book is particularly moving. The author discusses his return to prague and he says that:"I know Prague, and do not know it. It has continued to exist, and so have I, but somewhere else. I am sad that my shoes left no trace on the sidewalk, that my eyes have burned no holes in the stones... I mingle with the living, but the dead and the killed push their way in between—my mother, my mother’s mother, and others as well: Paul Kisch, Egon Erwin’s brother, who on the eve of his deportation to the death camps greeted me in the full regalia of German fraternity students of the past; Waldtraut W., a German medical student from the northern Bohemian mountains whom I was crazy about, killed in front of the Jesuit church by an aerial mine dropped over Prague by Allied bombers on their return from Dresden; our neighbor the Catholic poet Josef Kostohryz, whom the Communist courts of terror sentenced to a long prison term and who subsequently vegetated and died penniless."Evidently the history stops in 1939 because the rest is just too painful to write about, and I respect this, for to live through such an experience is something quite different than to read about it on the pages of a book. I will quench my curiosity for the remainder of Pragues history from a different source then. I liked that the view offered of Prague is one which is personal, yet rooted in historical accuracy. The author denounces Prague the mystical and states "I am waiting for someone, at long last, to start speaking of Prague as the city of analytic minds and rationalists:". I think it's nice to have this perspective, which runs counter to that of the 'mystical Prague' espoused by tourists.A short word on readability. Of course this is a subjective gripe but I found the book heavy reading due to the author's writing style. Sentences tend to be long compound sentences which feel overly decorated. His vocabulary is rich but it sometimes felt unnecessary. "Never use  a  long word where a short one will do" from George Orwell's six rules for writing come to mind. Other more advanced readers will no doubt find no fault with the author's prose.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Good buy
  

*by S***. on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 January 2021*

Arrived on time well packaged.  Bought for a friend for Christmas.  She was very happy with it.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Prague in Black and Gold: The History of a City
- Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968
- Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948

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*Product available on Desertcart Australia*
*Store origin: AU*
*Last updated: 2026-01-25*