Eminent Hungarians     by Ray Keenoy Published by Boulevard Pub. Date: December 2003 Pub. Place: UK Format: Paperback, 112 pages ISBN: 1899460063 List Price: $16.95, £9.95 buy now directly from the publisher Free Shipping Worldwide

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Watch out, there's a Hungarian about! As this lighthearted look at the phenomenon of famous Hungarians shows this is a small nation that has always punched well above its weight, playing a major role in innumerable fields, including; nuclear physics (Teller and Szilárd), modern music (Bartók and Kurtág, architecture (Ernõ Goldfinger) dance education (Rudolf Lábán), globalisation theory (Imre Lakatos) and retail cosmetics (Estée Lauder). As Hungary emerges from the rusty shadows of the Iron Curtain into the New Europe here’s a chance to get acquainted with the new guys on the block.

Ray Keenoy focuses on the relevance of fifty great figures of science, thought, culture and action for today, bringing out the enormous contribution of this small nation to the modern world — for better (the discovery of Vitamin C) or worse (the H-bomb). Ray Keenoy founded Boulevard Books in 1994 to promote world literature in translation. He co-edited the Babel Guide to Hungarian Literature in Translation (2001) and is senior editor of the world literature website babelguides.com.

This "lighthearted look at the phenomenon of famous Hungarians" includes many with whom the average English reader might already be familiar, such as novelist Sándor Márai, composer Béla Bartók, pen inventor József László Biró, or vampiric actor Bela Lugosi, as well as less widely celebrated figures such as philosopher of science Imre Lakatos or the confusingly named Saint Margaret of Scotland. Each figure is given a quotation (I liked what composer György Kurtág apparently said to a piano student: "No no no no no no no no!"), and there are some excellently chosen bibliographical/internet links... No matter - Keenoy offers a strong opinion on just about everything: scientist Árpád Pusztai (he of the genetically modified potato uproar) is praised for being "courageous"; while Harry Houdini's stunts were, in the author's opinion, "effortful, painful, ultimately dull and overwhelmingly pointless". SP
— The Guardian, 24 Jan 2004