Recommendations from our site
“Richard Bassett’s book on Maria Theresa is groundbreaking. She comes across as an intellectual, highly intelligent, balanced and subtle negotiator, as well as the queenly figure she’s been celebrated as for so long. What Bassett has done, in a sense, is rejig the balance between her and her traditionally more celebrated son Joseph, who was considered the best kind of enlightened despot.” Read more...
The Best Historical Biographies of 2026
Roy Foster, Historian
“For anyone wanting to celebrate female leadership in past centuries, she’s one of the most interesting exemplars. Richard Bassett’s biography is very pro-Maria Theresa (the subtitle is ‘the making of the Austrian Enlightenment’) and you find yourself rooting for her against Frederick the Great and other men of the time, including, at times, her own advisers.” Read more...
Notable Nonfiction Books of Early 2025
Sophie Roell, Journalist
Our most recommended books
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King: A Life
by Jonathan Eig -
Patriot: A Memoir
by Alexei Navalny, translated by Arch Tait with Stephen Dalziel -
Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin
by Sue Prideaux -
Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar
by Cynthia Carr -
Augustus The Strong: A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco
by Tim Blanning -
Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life
by Jason Roberts
