
The Last Palace
Europe's Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House
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Narrated by:
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Jeff Goldblum
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By:
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Norman Eisen
About this listen
A sweeping yet intimate narrative about the last hundred years of turbulent European history, as seen through one of Mitteleuropa's greatest houses - and the lives of its occupants
When Norman Eisen moved into the US ambassador’s residence in Prague, returning to the land his mother had fled after the Holocaust, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture in his new home. These symbols of Nazi Germany were remnants of the residence’s forgotten history, and evidence that we never live far from the past.
From that discovery unspooled the twisting, captivating tale of four of the remarkable people who had called this palace home. Their story is Europe’s, and The Last Palace chronicles the upheavals that transformed the continent over the past century. There was the optimistic Jewish financial baron, Otto Petschek, who built the palace after World War I as a statement of his faith in democracy, only to have that faith shattered; Rudolf Toussaint, the cultured, compromised German general who occupied the palace during World War II, ultimately putting his life at risk to save the house and Prague itself from destruction; Laurence Steinhardt, the first postwar US ambassador whose quixotic struggle to keep the palace out of Communist hands was paired with his pitched efforts to rescue the country from Soviet domination; and Shirley Temple Black, an eyewitness to the crushing of the 1968 Prague Spring by Soviet tanks, who determined to return to Prague and help end totalitarianism - and did just that as US ambassador in 1989.
Weaving in the life of Eisen’s own mother to demonstrate how those without power and privilege moved through history, The Last Palace tells the dramatic and surprisingly cyclical tale of the triumph of liberal democracy.
©2018 Norman Eisen (P)2018 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“A deft and fascinating narrative...The Last Palace is steeped in politics, military history, architectural lore and anecdotes.... Mr. Eisen’s easy, fluid style and the richness of his material make for very pleasurable historical reading.” (Wall Street Journal)
“The book’s main characters are captivating. The palace itself has a ghostly allure.” (The Economist)
“Meticulous...fascinating.... Reading this book, you are reminded of the many missed opportunities that the United States and other Western allies had to encourage and assist democracy in Central Europe. It is not clear that we have learned from history as we are once again confronting nationalist, nativist and anti-democratic politicians and movements backed or amplified by Russia in Europe and beyond.” (Washington Post)
A Publishers Weekly, BookPage, and Pen America Best Book of 2018
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Story
In 1990, a country disappeared. When the Iron Curtain fell, East Germany ceased to be. For over forty years, from the ruin of the Second World War to the cusp of a new millennium, the German Democratic Republic presented a radically different Germany than what had come before and what exists today. Socialist solidarity, secret police, central planning, barbed wire: this was a Germany forged on the fault lines of ideology and geopolitics. Acclaimed historian Katja Hoyer sets aside the usual Cold War caricatures of the GDR to offer a kaleidoscopic new vision of this vanished country.
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Good summary of ordinary life in the DDR
- By Z' on 03-09-24
By: Katja Hoyer
What listeners say about The Last Palace
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- Sam Nace
- 03-04-25
A moving history of Prague
Centered around what is now the American Embassy, a palace built in the 1920s is the setting for the Czech Republic’s striving and winning of democracy. Its occupants are witness to revolutions, and the stories told from the personal recollections of those who came to love and protect the palace and its symbol of endurance.
Well researched and beautifully written, I recommend this to anyone curious about the current situation in America in 2025 and the warning this book serves as western democracy teeters on the brink.
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- Olabumie Messeh
- 10-20-18
One of the best books I have ever read/Listen to.
One Of the best books I have ever read/Listen to, truly a Awesome read it gives you historic reference and family history at the same time. I will read it again, and Again.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Behzad
- 04-21-21
Superbly done
Fantastic gathering of data.
Now walking by such institution you can appreciate it’s “existence” !
One of those rare opportunities where you can be the fly on the wall and witness events as they unfolded !
Excellent book.
Truly enjoyed it.
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- Patrick
- 08-09-20
Fascinating historical story, superb narration
This books takes you through over a hundred years of Czech history in a moving and compelling set of intertwined stories. Jeff Goldblum's narration is marvelous.
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- Schmulie
- 06-02-23
Fascinating.
This book was fascinating. I expected something more akin to Thomas Harding’s “The House by the Lake” (which is probably one of my top 5 books of all time) in that I expected a biography of the house and it’s inhabitants. While “The Last Palace” is a biography of Otto Petschek’s masterpiece, it’s more about Czechoslovakia and Otto’s palace’s place in it. I’d have loved to have known more about the individuals’ lives within the walls of the palace more that outside it’s walls. That being said, it was an excellent book and I highly recommend it. Now I want pictures of every nook and cranny, including the silverware!
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- Fernando Ferrante
- 01-19-19
Great book despite goldblum’s narration
Story is great. I just went to Prague and this book enriched the experience. Not even Goldblum’s atrocious narration managed to ruin it. By the way, somebody give him a TUMS. There were parts where it sounded like he needed to burp. When narrating children and women, he sounded like somebody just kicked him in the privates. Every Czech, German, and Hebrew word appeared to give him seizures. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE = just because someone is famous, it does not mean they will be good narrators (the opposite is more likely).
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13 people found this helpful
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- Evie
- 06-20-24
Interesting story - horrible reading
The story itself is good. I’m not sure the last portion adds much to be story.
The problem is the reading. His female voices were horrible. He also sounded like he was yawning or running out of breath. Then there were a few times that a word or phrase seemed to be spliced in.
He enunciated the foreign words well.
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- Mark Triska
- 11-28-20
Great and entertaining story of Czechoslovakia over the past 150 years!
Well researched and entertains from start to finish. You get a history lesson without any boredom involved!
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- SJT
- 04-04-24
Political History - Prague 1930’s to present
Centered around Villa Petschek the book addresses the political history of Prague from the 1930’s to present day. From the point of view and experience of the author Norman Eisen the US Ambassador to the Czech Republic 2011 - 2014.
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- Sandy Horwitz
- 12-26-24
Loved it;
The story flowed so well with thoroughness of detail. The stories were really well written. I loved the commentary of Norman’s mother and their sense of humor. Goldblum’s pronunciation of all those European names and languages including Yiddish was wonderful. His narration was great.
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