Budapest, like Paris and Vienna, experienced a period of sudden flourishing at the end of the nineteenth century. It became one of the leading metropolises of the time, with a rapidly growing population, construction, and a rapidly developing culture, the cradle from which world-renowned composers Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, writers Gyula Krúdy, Endre Ady, Ferenc Molnár, Arthur Koestler, and many others emerged. The respected historian and Budapest native John Lukacs presents a vivid picture of one of Europe's cities at the height of its glory in his book. He offers a cultural and historical portrait of Budapest – its appearance, sounds, and inhabitants, the artistic community, the complex web of social and political relations of the time, and last but not least, the significant role played by the Jewish population – as well as a historical perspective that captures the city's rise and its falls in the turmoil of the twentieth century.
