Priest, editor of Catholic newspapers in Maribor, musician, church restorer, witness to two world wars, and later a prisoner of the new socialist regime, Januš Golec (1888–1965) presents in the first part of his extensive manuscript—now published in book form—a vivid portrait of the mentality of Lower Styria. Alongside an admiring remembrance of Anton Korošec, the leading figure of the Slovenian People’s Party (SLS), Golec paints a lively picture of the region and its people. The period he recalls most intensely spans the final decades of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, particularly the first decade of the 20th century up to the outbreak of the First World War. At that time, Golec was a secondary-school student in Celje, a theology student in Maribor, and later a chaplain in Remšnik in the Kozjak region. With a skilled and engaging style, marked by freshness and curiosity, he brings everyday life in Lower Styria to life at the symbolic turning point marking the end of the long 19th century. From the upheavals and ruins of that era—through social and political turmoil and another world war—emerged the industrial age of the mid-20th century. Accompanied by two scholarly studies, the text stands out as a powerful cultural and historical testimony, closely connected to the spirit of a declining era and to new historical reflections along the Styrian border between cultural worlds.