Dr. Joe Hajdu is a cultural geographer. He is attached to Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia as an Honorary Fellow. In a long academic career he has carried out research in Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. His previous books have included a cultural geographic study of Australia aimed at visitors who seek to immerse themselves into the topic beyond what the standard tourist guide provides, a description of the cultural impact of the Japanese on the Gold Coast in northeast Australia in the 1980s, a study of the effect on economic linkages and people's lives of the West-East German border prior to 1989, and a recent book on the transformation of Berlin after 1990 from being a marginalized, divided city to again being the capital and culturally vibrant metropolis of a reunited Germany. Budapest: A History of Grandeur and Catastrophe is his first research and book project carried out in his birthplace, Hungary.
Budapest today is a palimpsest of its history and partially crystallized present. Its earlier history is best seen on the Castle Hill of Buda, the seat of Hungarian royal power since the beginning in the 13th Century. This peaked in the glory years of King Matthias' reign in the second half of the 1...
Frankfurt is at the crossroads of Europe. It is where for a thousand years the major trade routes between Amsterdam-Milan and Paris-Moscow have intersected. Today it is where thousands of people arrive, depart and change flights every day. Trade, transport and finance have been the lifeblood of Fran...
