A EuropeNow Editor's PickA Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year"Pieter M. Judson's book informs and stimulates. If his account of Habsburg achievements, especially in the 18th century, is rather starry-eyed, it is a welcome corrective to the black legend usually presented. Lucid, elegant, full of surprising and illuminating details, it can be warmly recommended to anyone with an interest in modern European history. "-Tim Blanning, Wall Street Journal"This is an engaging reappraisal of the empire whose legacy, a century after its collapse in 1918, still resonates across the nation-states that replaced it in central Europe. Judson rejects conventional depictions of the Habsburg empire as a hopelessly dysfunctional assemblage of squabbling nationalities and stresses its achievements in law, administration, science and the arts. "-Tony Barber, Financial Times"Spectacularly revisionist... Judson argues that... the empire was a force for progress and modernity... This is a bold and refreshing book... Judson does much to destroy the picture of an ossified regime and state. "-A. W. Purdue, Times Higher Education"Judson's reflections on nations, states and institutions are of broader interest, not least in the current debate on the future of the European Union after Brexit. "-Annabelle Chapman, Prospect