Frederick the Great: King of Prussia

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´s brilliant new biography recreates a remarkable era, a world which would be swept away shortly after Frederick´s death by the French Revolution. Equally at home on the battlefield or in the music room at Frederick´s extraordinary miniature palace of Sanssouci, Blanning draws on a lifetime´s obsession with the 18th century to create a work that is in many ways the summation of all that he has learned in his own rich and various career. Frederick´s spectre has hung over Germany ever since: an inspiration, a threat, an impossible ideal - Blanning at last allows us to understand him in his own time.