Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, dominated the 18th century in the same way that Napoleon dominated the start of the 19th - a force of nature, a caustic, ruthless, brilliant military commander, a monarch of exceptional energy and talent, and a knowledgeable patron of artists, architects and writers, most famously Voltaire. From early in his reign he was already a legendary figure - fascinating even to those who hated him.
Tim Blanning is the author of a number of major works on eighteenth century Europe, including The Pursuit of Glory, The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture and Joseph II. He was Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
Highly readable and deeply researched -- Andrew Roberts * Mail on
Sunday *
Tim Blanning's masterly biography guides the reader through all
these wars and chicaneries with great skill and dry-eyed
objectivity -- Noel Malcolm * Telegraph (5*) *
It is sure to be the standard English-language account for many
years. It instructs; it entertains; and it surprises -- Philip
Mansel * The Spectator *
Tim Blanning is that rarest of scholars, as deft in his command of
government and grand strategy as he is in his handling of
philosophy and opera, and is rightly regarded as one of Britain's
(indeed Europe's) finest historians. This biography finds him at
the height of his powers and offers major reassessments of almost
every aspect of Frederick's career -- John Adamson * Literary
Review *
Potsdam, where the founding father of Prussian autocracy built the
prettiest of palaces and picked the loftiest of guardsmen, [is]
freshly and fascinatingly described by Tim Blanning -- Nicky Haslam
* Spectator *
A similar mastery of topic is evident from the first lines of Tim
Blanning's Frederick the Great: King of Prussia (Allen
Lane), a virtuoso study of an exceptionally complex man who,
through force of personality, helped to shape an equally complex
moment in European history. -- Michael Prodger * New Statesman
*
A superbly wise and accomplished biographer -- Dominic Sandbrook *
Sunday Times *
Tim Blanning's Frederick the Great, is as enthralling on its
subject's horribly abusive upbringing as on his bold, sometimes
foolhardy military campaigns. Blanning is particularly acute in
inquiring, without, prurience, into the notorious question of
Frederick's sexuality. -- Ritchie Robertson * TLS *
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