Arguably the best single-volume history of Hungary in English. Also, for a more specific insight to Budapest, check out Budapest 1900, an illustrated social history of the city's glory years by John Lukacs.
Between the Woods and the Water
by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Describing the author's 1933 walk through Central Europe, including Hungary, this is the classic travel account of the country.
Hungary & the Hungarians: The Keywords
by István Bart
A quirky book that will guide you from ABC (a kind of greengrocers under the old regime) to Zsolnay porcelain.
Stealing from a Deep Place
by Brian Hall
This is an account of biking across Southeastern Europe, and focusing on life in communist Budapest in the 1980s.
Africa
