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Castle of the Hawk: An epic chronicle of the Habsburg dynasty
Castle of the Hawk: An epic chronicle of the Habsburg dynasty
Nov 15, 2024 3:50 AM

Author:Mike Walker,Carl Prekopp,Kai Owen,Anamaria Marinca,Full Cast,Philip Arditti,Mark Lewis Jones,Nia Roberts,Matthew McNulty,Richard Harrington,Jonathan Forbes

Castle of the Hawk: An epic chronicle of the Habsburg dynasty

Mike Walker's thrilling saga of the Habsburg dynasty, who ruled most of Europe - and much of the New World - for almost 600 years

For almost six centuries, the House of Habsburg was one of the most powerful royal families in Europe - and beyond. They established an empire that began with a castle on a crag, and ended up extending over four continents. In these riveting dramas, Mike Walker traces their rise and fall.

Hawk Rising - Brugg, 1230. Summoned to Duke Rudolf of Habsburg's clifftop fortress to tutor his son, Albert, Turkish scholar Ibrahim finds himself accompanying the young man on a Prussian crusade. Rudolf is determined to become Holy Roman Emperor - but he needs the Pope's backing, and Alexander supports the expedition... Starring Philip Arditti as Ibrahim, Mark Lewis Jones as Rudolf and Kai Owen as Albert.

Hawk Hunting - Enthroned as Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf battles to secure his dynasty. If Albert is to succeed him, various enemies must be removed from the scene, including his onetime ally King Ottokar of Bohemia. Meanwhile, Ibrahim is teaching philosophy to Albert's son, Frederick - and making secret deals. Starring Matthew Aubrey as Frederick and John Telfer as Ottokar.

Hawk Wounded - Albert the One-Eyed of Habsburg has supplanted Norbert as Holy Roman Emperor: but Wenceslas is set on revenge. Disenchanted with Frederick, Albert places his trust in another Habsburg, John of Swabia - and Ibrahim confronts his nemesis. Starring Aled Pugh as John.

Wallenstein - 1618. Wallenstein, a brilliant, rebellious Protestant mercenary, strives for advancement in the Holy Roman Empire's army. Guided by astute widow Katherina, he achieves fame and fortune. But this war wolf is hard to tame - can Katherina rein him in? Richard Harrington stars as Wallenstein, with Anamaria Marinca as Katherina.

Redl - Vienna, 1913. Double agent Colonel Alfred Redl believes he is invincible: as unstoppable as the Habsburgs he purports to serve. A pioneer of modern surveillance techniques and a superb story-spinner, he is almost the perfect spy. But when this arch-traitor is himself betrayed, he falls - and the Empire falls with him... Starring Jonathan Forbes as Redl.

Production credits

Written by Mike Walker

Directed by Alison Hindell and John Norton

Sound design: Nigel Lewis

A BBC Cymru Wales Production

© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Reviews

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—— The Times Literary Supplement

A gripping tale.

—— Washington Post

A captivating and an important study of what is happening on the ground in China today.

—— The News Tribune

[A] groundbreaking compendium... bracing and urgent... This collection is an extraordinary update to an ongoing project of vital truth-telling

—— Esquire, “Best Books of Fall 2021”

Readers will discover something new and redefining on every page ... This visionary, meticulously produced, profound, and bedrock-shifting testament belongs in every library and on every reading list ... [an] invaluable and galvanizing history ... revelatory

—— Booklist (starred)

This invaluable book sets itself apart by reframing readers' understanding of U.S. history, past and present

—— Library Journal (starred)

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—— Los Angeles Times

The groundbreaking project from The New York Times, which created a new origin story for America based on the very beginnings of American slavery, is expanded into a very large, very powerful full-length book

—— Entertainment Weekly

Pleasingly symmetrical... [a] mosaic of a book, which achieves the impossible on so many levels -- moving from argument to fiction to argument, from theme to theme, and backward and forward in time, so smoothly

—— Slate

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—— Economist

This is an illuminating political memoir about the break-up of the political tribe that won the Cold War.

—— David Goodhart , Literary Review

Equal parts memoir, reportage, and history, this sobering account of the roots and forms of today's authoritarianism, by one of its most accomplished observers, is meant as a warning to everyone. ... critically important for its muscular, oppositionist attack on the new right from within conservative ranks-and for the well-documented warning it embodies. The author's views are especially welcome because she is a deliberate thinker and astute observer rather than just the latest pundit or politico. In the spirit of Julien Benda, Hannah Arendt, and Theodor Adorno, Applebaum seeks to understand what makes the new right "more Bolshevik than Burkean."... A knowledgeable, rational, necessarily dark take on dark realities.

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—— Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs and Leonardo Da Vinci

A powerful study of how to bear witness in a moment when America is being called to do the same

—— TIME 100 Must-Read Books of 2020

Glaude's book is neither straight biography nor straight history, but rather historiography, reaching back and forth in time to show what Baldwin - whose centenary will be celebrated in 2024 - has to say to us and to teach us through his many writings at a time when "the idea of America is in deep trouble"

—— Liz Thomson , Arts Desk

A powerful, genre-defying work

—— David Terrien , ArtReview

Fascinating . . . An urgent and honest overview of Baldwin's work

—— Chartist

Many complicated human relations are on display in these irresistible diaries . . . The editor deserves the greatest praise. He has rightly included everything that brings Channon's shimmering brittle world to life . . . He has a gift for the sharp, striking phrase which bring events to life. If diaries are to achieve immortality, the diarist must be a first-class writer. Channon passes that with flying colours.

—— Lord Lexden , House Magazine

Better than any history or histories of these two decades . . . like a fusion of Debrett's and the Almanach de Gotha . . . Scrupulously scholarly . . . Simon Heffer has done a great service by revealing in this extraordinary new edition of the Channon diaries the decadence and complacency of the English political and upper classes.

—— Denis Macshane , The Tablet

The abundant footnotes . . . swarm with everything you might want to know about the British aristocracy between the wars . . . It's like reading Bertie Wooster set loose among the pages of Burke's Peerage, with lots of sucking-up where the jokes ought to be . . . His pen portraits of friends and rivals alike are etched in acid.

—— Anthony Quinn , Observer

The fascinating, unexpurgated interwar diaries of the Tory MP and social alpinist Henry "Chips" Channon, who met everyone who was anyone from Hitler to kings, the Pope and the Mitfords. Bonking, snobbery and bitchy remarks abound in this big beast of a book.

—— Times

I did enjoy the Chips Channon diaries, the new first volume. My most pleasurable reading experiences are diaries and letters. History unfiltered, not refracted through a historian's imagination. The Chips Channon diaries bring alive a section of society in the 20s and 30s with great vividness.

—— Robert Harris

Chips Channon wrote witheringly about everyone-except Hitler. But his diaries still make for strangely addictive reading . . . [Simon Heffer] has done a superb job.

—— Chris Mullin , Prospect Magazine

These unabridged, risqué, waspish, snobbish, social-climbing diaries have been worth the wait . . . All credit to Simon Heffer for his masterly editing and annotation.

—— The Field

The diaries are indeed indispensable for anyone seriously interested in the political and social history of interwar Britain.

—— History Today

Brilliantly and painstakingly edited by Simon Heffer. The enlarged Channon diaries have rightly attracted a great deal of attention . . . they are more detailed and more frank, and maybe more honest, about the opinions and sexual escapades of some of the leading figures in British politics and high society in the years between the world wars.

—— UnHerd

It sounds perverse to say that Channon's snobberies and prejudices make the diaries, but the unabashed exposure of these failings gives you an oddly impressive picture of a person in the setting of his time - the picture, I mean, is absorbing, whatever the subject's shortcomings. And though this colossal self-portrait describes much that's misguided, vain, and idiotic, it prompts you too to imagine those perishable qualities that history and biography so often fail to capture: the charm, generosity, personal magnetism, and brilliance of conversation that must have explained and sustained Chips's progress, the "success after success" that the diaries record and celebrate.

—— Alan Hollinghurst , New York Review of Books

One of the most talked about books of this year . . . compelling and significant.

—— Caroline Knox , The Scotsman

Channon's jaw-dropping account, lovingly curated by the historian and former Mail writer Simon Heffer, is compelling.

—— Daily Mail, Best Books for Summer

Delicious, dangerous and utterly compulsive.

—— The Week

Dripping with bons mots, anecdote and scandal, [these] are addictive, even if they elicit repulsion as well as delight.

—— Daily Telegraph, Best Summer Books

A momentous publishing event. Candid, unabashed, vivid and manifold. They will be prized for their powerful evocation of social milieux . . . Heffer's footnotes are always informative, just and accurate, often amusing, and can seldom be faulted.

—— Richard Davenport-Hines , TLS

An unadulterated masterpiece . . . A larder of quotable treats.

—— Sasha Swire , Tatler

Scintillating wit, memorable descriptions and compelling gossip. Heffer has done a magnificent job. Riveting.

—— Leo McKinstry , Daily Express

Whatever you think of him Channon ranks among the great diarists. He is at turns brilliant, witty, trivial and spiteful, with observations about some figures whose names have stood the test of time. Simon Heffer has done an excellent job as editor and his copious footnotes are often as entertaining as the diaries.

—— The Quarterly Review

An inspired diarist. After devouring this volume readers will be salivating for the next.

—— Andrew Roberts , The Critic
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