AUGUSTUS THE STRONG

From the acclaimed author of The Pursuit of Glory and Frederick the Great a riotous biography of the charismatic ruler of 18th century Poland and Saxony and his catastrophic reign It s been a superb year for history but Augustus the Strong ranks up there with the very very best I cant recommend it strongly enough Simon Sebag Montefiore The wonderful story of one of the worst monarchs in European history told with enormous wit and scholarship by a supremely talented historian If you have the slightest interest in Germans Poles porcelain jewels the Enlightenment military disasters or the pleasures of fox tossing then this is the book for you Dominic Sandbrook Shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography 2025 Augustus is one of the great what ifs of the 18th century He could have turned the accident of ruling two major realms into the basis for a powerful European state a bulwark against the Russians and a block on Prussian expansion Alas there was no opportunity Augustus did not waste and no decision he did not get wrong By the time of his death Poland was fatally damaged and would subsequently disappear as an independent state until the 20th century Tim Blanning s wonderfully entertaining and original new book