Frederick the Great

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 * A superbly wise and accomplished biographer -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times * 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 * 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 * 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 * 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's masterly biography guides the reader through all these wars and chicaneries with great skill and dry-eyed objectivity -- Noel Malcolm * Telegraph (5*) * Highly readable and deeply researched -- Andrew Roberts * Mail on Sunday *