Summary of Frederic Morton's A Nervous Splendor

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 On July 6, 1888, the price of sugar went up from forty to forty-two kreuzers a kilo in Imperial Vienna. On the afternoon of the same day, the gates of Franz Joseph’s palace swung open. A carriage swept out onto the cobbles of the Ringstrasse. #2 The Austrian Empire was a dynastic fiction, but it was still a spectacular oddity among the great states of Europe. Rudolf waited to be the next Austrian emperor. Every fairytale corner of the Monarchy contributed visitors to the Ringstrasse. #3 The Ringstrasse was home to many military uniforms, which made for a beautiful sight. But the boulevard also attracted officers from all over the Empire, who brought with them their nation's tensions and nationalism. #4 Rudolf was the heir apparent, but he had never been given any real power save the almost occult ability to make heels click and hats levitate through his mere presence. He had learned to play the princely eunuch for a while longer.