Augustus The Strong: A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco

Augustus the Strong was one of the worst monarchs in European history, but his life was full of wit and scholarship. This book tells his story with humor and insight, covering topics such as Germans, Poles, porcelain, jewels, the Enlightenment, military disasters, and fox-tossing. It is a must-read for anyone interested in these topics.

Format: Hardback
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 03 October 2024
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

The wonderful story of one of the worst monarchs in European history, told with enormous wit and scholarship by a supremely talented historian, is now available in a new book. 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 - An absorbing biography - Literary Review - 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. 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 Blannings' wonderfully entertaining and original new book is a study in failed statecraft, showing how a ruler can shape history as much by incompetence as brilliance. Augustus's posthumous sobriquet 'The Strong' referred not to any political accomplishment, but to his legendary physical strength and sexual athleticism. Yet he was also one of the great creative artists of the age, combining driving energy, exquisite taste, and apparently boundless resources to master-mind the creation of peerless Dresden, the baroque jewel of jewels. Augustus the Strong brilliantly evokes this time of opulence and excess, decadence and folly.

Weight: 688g
Dimension: 241 x 165 x 39 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780241705148