Within the Holy Roman Empire, the house of Thurn und Taxis occupied something of a unique position. Where the standard basis of noble standing and wealth was land, this dynasty derived importance from the postal service, over which it came to enjoy (in theory, at least) a monopoly within the Imperial bounds. By organizing and controlling the Empire's postal communications, the Thurn und Taxis rose to great prominence and riches. This, in turn, enabled them to build palaces and to accumulate property and land more commensurate with their status. Yet, for all this success, their importance remained dependent on the Emperor himself, which in practice—save for a brief interval from 1742 to 1745—meant the Austrian Habsburgs. In this imposing study, Siegfried Grillmeyer concentrates on this crucial relationship and the general fortunes of the Thurn und Taxis house. While much is known about the economic history of the postal entreprise, thanks to studies by Wolfgang Behringer and others, Grillmeyer makes a significant contribution to the literature by focusing on the political and dynastic workings of the Thurn und Taxis in a period of great transition.

After methodological considerations on the study of noble elites, in which he stresses the importance of the concept of the dynastic house (Haus), Grillmeyer offers a background history of the Thurn und Taxis family, which had originated in northern Italy. The analysis proper begins with the year 1745, when the Habsburgs were reelected to the Imperial title through the figure of Stephan of Lorraine, husband of Maria Theresia. If this seemed to represent a return to business as usual, the situation was not so straightforward, because the Thurn und Taxis had supported the rival Wittelsbach dynasty in the contentious election of 1742. Their traditional allegiance to the Habsburgs, which had helped them rise from mere court servants to the rank of princes (a status conferred in 1695), had been forsaken in favor of Karl Albrecht of Bavaria. The latter seemed to hold the stronger cards in 1742, while the postal dynasty also recognized that the job of hereditary postmaster general was an Imperial position, not a gift of the Habsburgs. By asserting the importance of the Imperial institution, Prince Karl Alexander von Thurn und Taxis believed that his house's claim to control of all postal services within the Empire could be legitimized more effectively against recalcitrant towns and territorial sovereigns. The brevity of Karl Albrecht's reign, however, confronted him with the dilemma of how to reconcile family interests with those of the returning Habsburgs, as well as how to maintain their position within the Empire as a whole.

In three lengthy chapters, Grillmeyer examines how the Thurn und Taxis met this challenge and those of the subsequent century. Reconciliation with the Habsburgs occurred promptly and reasonably smoothly. In the first place, the Thurn und Taxis had accumulated an organizational know-how and communications network, which left no effective competitors, while they could also point to the Imperial deeds legitimizing their monopoly position. Secondly, Maria Theresia recognized that the Thurn und Taxis could be employed to serve Habsburg interests: to ensure the secrecy and safety of their own post, while also allowing possible espionage of hostile correspondence. This symbiosis of interests then assumed a political dimension as well, when the Thurn und Taxis were appointed Principal Commissar to the Reichstag in 1748. In effect, this meant that they became the Emperor's permanent representatives at Regensburg, a role they would play until the end of the Old Empire. In return, the postal dynasty could rely on Austrian support for their privileged position against old rivals such as Hanover or reformist states that likewise wanted to assert the claims of their own state-run postal systems.

The Thurn und Taxis prevailed in this struggle owing to their willingness to compromise with Austria and to ride out the criticisms that this entailed, such as during the Seven Years' War, when accusations of postal espionage flew back and forth (pp. 120–25). They moved the main family seat to Regensburg and eventually purchased the County of Friedberg-Scheer in 1786, a free Imperial territory that finally enabled the dynasty to claim equal rank with other princes in the Reichsfürstenrat (p. 155). The considerable increase in postal traffic in the second half of the eighteenth century more than compensated for the outlay involved in their commissarial role and enabled a sufficient reserve to be accumulated to withstand the turmoil of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which brought about a severe downturn, with income sinking to under 400,000 florins in 1810, the lowest total for more than half a century (p. 249). Once again, however, a combination of astute diplomacy and the advantage of occupying a pivotal position proved enough to see the dynasty through the undoubted shock of 1806. Working relations were maintained with both Bonaparte and the Habsburgs, albeit leaning toward the former for much of the period. In the long run, their economic position recovered very satisfactorily from this hiatus, thanks to the decision at Vienna that a confederation-wide postal service was considered indispensable: Article 17 of the Acts setting up the German Confederation conferred on the Thurn und Taxis much the same monopoly position they had enjoyed under the older Empire (p. 431), but had failed to secure within Napoleon's Rhenish Confederation.

More problematic for the postal dynasty was the loss of diverse territories after 1803 and their subjection to other rulers; relations with Württemberg proved especially problematic, whereas accommodation with Bavaria proved somewhat easier, thanks to their continued commitment to Regensburg. Nevertheless, the loss of independent princely status rankled, even though the reduction in public duties had financial benefits. Grillmeyer suggests that this reduction in display was accompanied by a certain “embourgoisement” in the sense that the family's artistic tastes, attitudes to bringing up children, and views on love and marriage coincided with those of the bourgeoisie. Overall, however, the Thurn und Taxis remained firmly aristocratic in style and outlook, never really integrating into the social life of Regensburg and maintaining a wider horizon to their social and economic activities. These continued to prosper with economic growth in central Europe, although they could not survive the conflict of 1866 in the same way as previous wars. Grillmeyer ends his story with the “postal Königgrätz” of 1866–67, when the Thurn und Taxis lost control over the German postal system. Ultimately, therefore, the story of the Thurn und Taxis was of decline after the mid-nineteenth century, despite all their earlier success.

Overall, Grillmeyer provides a convincing account, but much more so for the period to 1815 than thereafter. His concentration on the social and economic aspects of the postal dynasty's fortunes in the nineteenth century leaves too much out of the political side of the story. There is not enough here about the Thurn und Taxis' relationship to the political currents of the mid-nineteenth century, the impact of the 1848–49 revolutions, or the dynasty's stance as the “German Question” reached a crisis point. Equally, while a thorough study, this work retains rather the structure and style of a dissertation, and it would certainly have benefited from more stringent editing. Nevertheless, it constitutes an impressive, worthwhile study and one full of contemporary resonance to boot: enormous personal wealth accumulated via a virtual private monopoly over the provision of a public service is evidently not just a modern way of doing business.