{"id":15,"date":"2010-05-26T12:21:15","date_gmt":"2010-05-26T11:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.katehordern.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/richard-bassett\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T11:17:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T11:17:15","slug":"richard-bassett","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/khla.co.uk\/index.php\/richard-bassett\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Bassett"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Richard Bassett<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Agent: Kate Hordern<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Richard Bassett’s new book, MARIA THERESA: EMPRESS: The Making of the Austrian Enlightenment, was published by Yale University Press on 25 February 2025.  This is a gripping study of one of the world’s most influential leaders, revealing how Maria Theresa confounded gendered expectations and left a lasting mark on Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Penguin paperback edition of LAST DAYS IN OLD EUROPE: Trieste 79, Vienna 85, Prague 89, a memoir of Richard’s time as Foreign Correspondent for The Times<\/em> behind the Iron Curtain, was published on 27 February 2020.  It was first published as an Allen Lane hardback in January 2019.   LAST DAYS IN OLD EUROPE was shortlisted for an Edward Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award, and was selected as a 2019 Book of the Year in the TLS<\/i> and Spectator.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Bassett read Law at Cambridge and did an MA in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute. He was a staff foreign correspondent for The Times<\/em> throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, covering central and Eastern Europe. He is married with two children and divides his time between London and Europe. Richard Bassett is the author of FOR GOD AND KAISER: The Imperial Austrian Army 1619 to 1918 (Yale University Press 2015), HITLER\u2019S SPY CHIEF: The Wilhelm Canaris Mystery (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2005), GUIDE TO CENTRAL EUROPE (Viking Penguin 1986), THE AUSTRIANS (Faber 1989), TRAVELLER\u2019S GUIDE TO VIENNA with John Lehmann (Constable 1989), WALDHEIM (Viking Penguin 1989) and BALKAN HOURS (John Murray 1990). HITLER\u2019S SPY CHIEF sold to twelve languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard is a Bye-Fellow of Christ\u2019s College, Cambridge.

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    Praise for MARIA THERESA: EMPRESS: The Making of the. Austrian Enlightenment:
    “Assured and revisionist … an impressively researched book … Maria Theresa emerges as an impressive if absolutist monarch, committed to bringing her Catholic faith to bear on her rule and making things better for those living in her lands.  Less Queen of the Night; more Queen of the Light.”  The Times
    <\/em>“From the Empress’s taste for marzipan to her collections of porcelain, and from her administrative reforms to her diplomatic triumphs, Richard Bassett gives a comprehensive biography of the Habsburg monarch Maria Theresa, which reaches in its scope from Transylvania and the Tyrol to Trieste and the Low Countries.  Eighteenth-century Europe has three ruling “greats” – Peter and Catherine of Russia, and Frederick the Great of Prussia.  There is a compelling case for a Maria Theresa the Great, and Richard Bassett makes it with assurance, zest and scholarly rigour.” Martyn Rady, author of THE MIDDLE KINGDOMS
    “An absolute tour de force.” Nancy M. Wingfield<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Praise for LAST DAYS IN OLD EUROPE:
    “A glorious book, one that could quite comfortably have been triple the length of its 200 pages, and the perfect read to remind us why we should be a part of this bewitching continent (of Europe).”  Charlie Connelly, The New European<\/em>, choosing it as one of sixteen books to give as a Christmas present in December 2020
    “an enchantingly old-fashioned account of Trieste, Vienna and Prague as the Cold War melted” Stephen Bayley, Spectator<\/em>
    “Richard Bassett’s spirited memoir of ten crucial years in recent European history is full of insights into the last days of two empires: the Habsburg, whose embers he savours beautifully, and the Communist, which he vividly shows us collapsing in front of him.  The book is charming and funny, but it has a serious purpose, lightly worn, and a flavour all of its own.” Anne Applebaum
    “With these vivid, wistful memoirs, he joins the great chroniclers of Europe – the Prousts, Zweigs, Lampedusas, Leigh-Fermors and Bassanis – and shows how some of the things those writers loved persisted as late as 1989.” Derek Turner, Economist<\/em>
    “has historical significance and a stream of entertaining stories” Julian Evans, Daily Telegraph<\/em>
    “Most memoirs by former journalists fail lamentably … A vastly enjoyable exception to the rule is Richard Bassett’s charming, imaginative and elegantly written memoir of his adventures in central Europe, for many years as a correspondent for The Times.”<\/em> Victor Sebestyen, Evening Standard<\/em>
    “As Soviet rule in central Europe collapsed in the late 1980s, newsworthy events, thrilling and poignant, abounded. Many were enriched by the diffident, elegant presence of Richard Bassett. ” Edward Lucas, Financial Times<\/em>
    “In the 1980s Richard Bassett was “our man” in central Europe, and a high old time he appears to have had. This memoir of that period and those places is nicely crafted and would happily accompany a bottle or two of Holzpur 2004 spread over a couple of winter evenings.” David Aaronovitch, The Times<\/em>
    “This is a gem of a book … a charming and engaging memoir of a world now gone.” Clovis Meath Baker, Standpoint
    <\/em>“Eyewitness anecdotes bring to life the complex criss-crossing history of Mitteleuropa … a very well-furnished English mind, travelling through Europe at a transformative moment in its history with more than a bit of local knowledge.” Annette Kobak, Times Literary Supplement
    <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Praise for FOR GOD AND KAISER:
    \u201cThis is a very good battle history of the old Austrian army, probably the most impressive one in any language.\u201d Lothar H\u00f6belt, University of Vienna for War in History<\/em>
    \u201cgenuinely ground-breaking \u2026 brilliantly fills a gaping hole in Europe\u2019s history\u201d Nigel Jones in BBC History Magazine<\/em>
    \u201cAn accessible English-language survey of the Habsburg Army, its achievements and eccentricities, has long been awaited. This need has now been met by Richard Bassett, who combines a mastery of the sources with a deep understanding of Austrian life and culture.\u201d Christopher Duffy, author of THE AUSTRIAN ARMY IN THE SEVEN YEARS WAR
    \u201cCalling to his aid an impressively broad array of sources, Bassett draws on a wealth of detail and anecdote to tell this fascinating story \u2026 a mine of information. Bassett sets out to explore whether the Habsburgs\u2019 army\u2019s reputation for incompetence is at all justified and the author demonstrates with engaging verve that it is not.\u201d Adam Zamoyksi in The Literary Review<\/em>
    \u201ceminently readable and long overdue history of the Habsburgs and their army\u201d Army Rumour Services<\/em>
    \u201cJohn Keegan \u2026 felt that the most important book \u2026that remained unwritten was a history of the Austrian army. Richard Bassett has now successfully filled the gap \u2026 an eye-opener.\u201d John Jolliffe in the Spectator<\/em>
    \u201csuperb new book\u201d William Anthony Hay (Associate Professor of History and Director of the Institute for the Humanities at Mississippi State University) on the National Interest Website<\/em>
    \u201ca remarkable masterpiece of vivid fast-paced and accessible historiography\u201d Professor Gunther Kronenbitter in Royal United Services Institute Journal<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Praise for HITLER\u2019S SPY CHIEF:
    \u201cFascinating\u201d Michael Burleigh, Evening Standard<\/em>
    “Illuminating biography” Financial Times<\/em>
    \u201cA brief and readable biography\u201d Richard Overy, Literary Review<\/em>
    \u201cThis book describes, in fascinating detail, the shady and complex workings of the international intelligence world, and the amazing ways in which Canaris tried to subvert Hitler, while apparently serving him loyally.\u201d Evening Gazette<\/em>
    \u201cExtraordinary and very interesting\u201d Guards Magazine<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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    Agent: Kate Hordern<\/p>\n

    Penguin have bought, on proposal, LAST DAYS BEHIND THE CURTAIN, Richard’s memoir of his time as Foreign Correspondent for The Times<\/i> behind the Iron Curtain, focusing on Trieste in 1979, Vienna in 1985 and Prague in 1989. Publication is scheduled for 2017\/2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRichard Bassett - KHLA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Richard Bassett was a staff foreign correspondent for The Times throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, covering central and Eastern Europe.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/khla.co.uk\/index.php\/richard-bassett\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Richard Bassett - KHLA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Richard Bassett was a staff foreign correspondent for The Times throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, covering central and Eastern Europe.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/khla.co.uk\/index.php\/richard-bassett\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KHLA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-06T11:17:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/khla.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/authors\/richard_bassett_600.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/richard-bassett\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/richard-bassett\\\/\",\"name\":\"Richard Bassett - KHLA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/richard-bassett\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/richard-bassett\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/authors\\\/richard_bassett_600.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-26T11:21:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-06T11:17:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"Richard Bassett was a staff foreign correspondent for The Times throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, covering central and Eastern Europe.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/richard-bassett\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/richard-bassett\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/richard-bassett\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/authors\\\/richard_bassett_600.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/authors\\\/richard_bassett_600.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/richard-bassett\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Richard Bassett\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/khla.co.uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"KHLA\",\"description\":\"KHLA is a small independent literary agency with a growing list of clients. 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