In the Shadow of the Empress Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Educational Reforms in the Austrian Empire Under Maria Theresa and our BookBrowse Review of In the Shadow of the Empress.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Throughout her reign, Maria Theresa strove to improve her subjects' lives. She shifted the burden of taxation away from the peasantry by forcing the aristocracy to pay their fair share (a visionary measure without precedent in Austrian history); she introduced smallpox vaccination and did her best to reform healthcare and education; and she modernized the army. But she also had many faults, chief among them her religious intolerance and especially her hatred of Jews and adoption of anti-Semitic policies. Do you think that, ultimately, she deserves to be remembered as a great leader, or does her bigotry disqualify her from that distinction?
2. Maria Theresa had the very modern problem of having to juggle the responsibilities of a full-time career with her role as wife and mother. (Of sixteen children!) How well do you think she succeeded at this delicate balancing act? It is clear that she tried to defer to her husband's and eldest son's wishes whenever possible—how did that work out for her? Why do you think that she, who understood how difficult it was to rule, prepared her daughters so little for it?
3. In one of her letters, Isabella of Parma counseled that, as the daughter of a great prince, Maria Christina should dissemble her true feelings and adopt a pose of outward obedience until such time as she would perhaps be in a better position to exert control over her life. What do you think of Isabella's advice? Would you say that in some ways, women are still grappling with societal expectations of meekness and compliance?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Back Bay Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.