Xenophobe's Guide to the Austrians

This slim volume is a pocket book - literally. Its small format will fit your pocket as you travel. With a skimpy page count of 86 pages, the author is challenged to offer some insights into the Austrian psyche and customs. He does so with some literary flair and humor, but the brief descriptions of Austrian peculiarities will just touch the subjects without satisfying the curiosity. Although this small volume is updated annually (like others in the Xenophobe series), I found some of the assertions stereotypical and dated. Clearly, preferences are flavored by a background that looks for superlatives elsewhere: Austrian beer is consistenly described as 'insipid'and the domestic wine as tasting of steel shavings. Apparently, he was never exposed to beer other than Gösser or tasted wines from Burgenland or South Styria. His cursory exploration of food (dismissing the vast array of quality pastries in a sentence or two) is symptomatic of this digest approach to describing a culture's best features. The pithy assessments may help business travelers a bit, but they are not enough information for a tourist. A much better work on the topic is Culture Shock: Austria, which - although a bit older - provides the great detail and thorough research that this essay lacks.

ABOUT the title: it is distinctly tongue-in-cheek -- something which I feel I ought to mention because a friend, seeing it on my table, was horrified that I would be reading hate-literature. ABOUT the content: I suppose it can be hard for us Americans to get a handle on the fact that other peoples do not necessarily see everything the same way we do. And this is what makes the book a charming little add-on to our necessary standard travel guides. ABOUT Austria: I loved the place and must go back.

A good little book, providing a quick traveler's introduction to the Austrians. It is written with a pervasive sense of humor, and offers insights into local custom and character. It is not a substitue for either a true guide book or for a good history (both of which we would strongly urge one to have). Read this first, then consult the travel guide books and read The Austrians.

This book is soooo true!! I am an Austrian myself, at the moment living in the United States, and came across this book via my boss, who is an Austria aficionado.I think I rarely ever enjoyed a book that much; to everyone who ever spent some time in my country and got to love its many peculiarities, this will be a great souvenir / gift!!!

自分はオーストリア人ですが、この本にとても共感できました。同じシリーズのイギリス人とドイツ人のものを読んだので比較しますと、イギリスとドイツの方が国民の性格を実例に挙げて説明していますが、オーストリアは歴史人物の行動や発言と比較しています。それ故に笑える箇所が少なかったです。まあ、歴史にこだわるのがまたオーストリア人らしいとも思ったりしますが。オーストリア人のことを知りたかったらこの作品のみではなくドイツ人のと一緒に読むといいと思います。基本的に生真面目さと外見のこだわりを除くとオーストリア人と特徴が一致します。

As Bill Bryson says, you have to hand it to the Austrians - otherwise they'll just take it. A delightfully inauspicious read.

This was up to the standard of the other XG books which I have enjoyed, I but would have like a little more information and colour on regional and rustic variation which I'm sure Austria must have, instead of concentrating on Vienna and generalising the national character. I always enjoy the humorous approach of these books, but sometimes using some of that space for more social detail might have improved this one.

I've had this in paper copy for some years and was delighted to find it as a freebie download recently.It's succinct, intelligent, informed and entertaining. Full of amusing detail, but also filled with fact and I've enjoyed re reading it on kindle as much as I did first time round in hard copy. Austria is so much more than one country with a few mountains a bit of musical history and a liking for coffee and pastries. This little tome gets under that skin and let's the reader see the reality of a multi cultural country, influenced by invasion and war and one which retains a singular identity.

A light hearted look at the Austrians. I love it