History of Friedrich II of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great was a biography of Friedrich II of Prussia written by Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle. Frederick II was a Prussian king and military leader who ruled the Kingdom of Prussia from 1740 until 1786, reigning longer than any other Hohenzollern king. The work is made up of 21 books and an appendix. Table of Contents: Book I: Birth and Parentage (1712) Book II: Of Brandenburg and the Hohenzollerns (928 - 1417) Book III: The Hohenzollerns in Brandenburg (1412 - 1718) Book IV: Friedrich's Apprenticeship, First Stage (1713 - 1728) Book V: Double-Marriage Project, and What Element It Fell Into (1723 - 1726) Book VI: Double-Marriage Project, and Crown-Prince, Going Adrift Under the Storm-Winds (1727 - 1730) Book VII: Fearful Shipwreck of the Double-Marriage Project (February - November 1730) Book VIII: Crown-Prince Retrieved: Life at Custrin (November 1730 - February 1732) Book IX: Last Stage of Friedrich's Apprenticeship: Life in Ruppin (1732 - 1736) Book X: At Rheinsberg (1736 - 1740) Book XI: Friedrich Takes the Reins in Hand (June - December 1740) Book XII: First Silesian War, Awakening a General European One, Begins (December 1740 - May 1741) Book XIII: First Silesian War, Leaving the General European One Ablaze All Round, Gets Ended (May 1741 - July 1742) Book XIV: The Surrounding European War Does Not End (August 1742 - July 1744) Book XV: Second Silesian War, Important Episode in the General European One (15 August 1744 - 25 December 1745) Book XVI: The Ten Years of Peace (1746 - 1756) Book XVII: The Seven-Years War: First Campaign (1756 - 1757) Book XVIII: Seven-Years War Rises to a Height (1757 - 1759) Book XIX: Friedrich Like to Be Overwhelmed in the Seven-Years War (1759 - 1760) Book XX: Friedrich is Not to Be Overwhelmed: The Seven-Years War Gradually Ends (25 April 1760 - 15 February 1763) Book XXI: Afternoon and Evening of Friedrich's Life (1763 - 1786) Appendix

The first modern English edition of diverse Enlightenment-era writings by Prussian monarch Frederick the Great Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786), best known as Frederick the Great, was a prolific writer of philosophical discourses, poems, epics, satires, and more, while maintaining extensive correspondence with prominent intellectuals, Voltaire among them. This edition of selected writings, the first to make a wide range of Frederick’s most important ideas available to a modern English readership, moves beyond traditional attempts to see his work only in light of his political aims. In these pages, we can finally appreciate Frederick’s influential contributions to the European Enlightenment—and his unusual role as a monarch who was also a published author. In addition to Frederick’s major opus, the Anti-Machiavel, the works presented here include essays, prefaces, reviews, and dialogues. The subjects discussed run the gamut from ethics to religion to political theory. Accompanied by critical annotations, the texts show that we can understand Frederick’s views of kingship and the state only if we engage with a broad spectrum of his thought, including his attitudes toward morality and self-love. By contextualizing his arguments and impact on Enlightenment beliefs, this volume considers how we can reconcile Frederick’s innovative public musings with his absolutist rule. Avi Lifschitz provides a robust and detailed introduction that discusses Frederick’s life and work against the backdrop of eighteenth-century history and politics. With its unparalleled scope and cross-disciplinary appeal, Frederick the Great’s Philosophical Writings firmly establishes one monarch’s multifaceted relevance for generations of readers and scholars to come.

The definitive biography of the legendary autocrat whose enlightened rule transformed the map of Europe and changed the course of history Few figures loom as large in European history as Frederick the Great. When he inherited the Prussian crown in 1740, he ruled over a kingdom of scattered territories, a minor Germanic backwater. By the end of his reign, the much larger and consolidated Prussia ranked among the continent’s great powers. In this magisterial biography, award-winning historian Tim Blanning gives us an intimate, in-depth portrait of a king who dominated the political, military, and cultural life of Europe half a century before Napoleon. A brilliant, ambitious, sometimes ruthless monarch, Frederick was a man of immense contradictions. This consummate conqueror was also an ardent patron of the arts who attracted painters, architects, musicians, playwrights, and intellectuals to his court. Like his fellow autocrat Catherine the Great of Russia, Frederick was captivated by the ideals of the Enlightenment—for many years he kept up lively correspondence with Voltaire and other leading thinkers of the age. Yet, like Catherine, Frederick drew the line when it came to implementing Enlightenment principles that might curtail his royal authority. Frederick’s terrifying father instilled in him a stern military discipline that would make the future king one of the most fearsome battlefield commanders of his day, while deriding as effeminate his son’s passion for modern ideas and fine art. Frederick, driven to surpass his father’s legacy, challenged the dominant German-speaking powers, including Saxony, Bavaria, and the Habsburg Monarchy. It was an audacious foreign policy gambit, one at which Frederick, against the expectations of his rivals, succeeded. In examining Frederick’s private life, Blanning also carefully considers the long-debated question of Frederick’s sexuality, finding evidence that Frederick lavished gifts on his male friends and maintained homosexual relationships throughout his life, while limiting contact with his estranged, unloved queen to visits that were few and far between. The story of one man’s life and the complete political and cultural transformation of a nation, Tim Blanning’s sweeping biography takes readers inside the mind of the monarch, giving us a fresh understanding of Frederick the Great’s remarkable reign. Praise for Frederick the Great “Writing Frederick’s biography . . . requires a diverse set of skills: expertise in eighteenth-century diplomatic and military history, including the intricacies of the Holy Roman Empire; a familiarity with the music, architecture and intellectual traditions of Northern Europe; and, not least, a profound sense of human psychology, the better to grasp the makeup of this complex and tormented man. Fortunately, Tim Blanning . . . has all of these skills in abundance.”—The Wall Street Journal “At once scholarly and highly readable . . . [Blanning] has given us a superb portrait of an enlightened despot, equally at home on the battlefield and in the opera house, both utterly ruthless and culturally refined.”—Commentary “Blanning, in clear thinking and prose, investigates all aspects of Frederick’s personality and reign. . . . The last word on this significant king, for years to come.”—Booklist (starred review) “Masterly . . . Blanning brilliantly brings to life one of the most complex characters of modern European history.”—The Telegraph (five stars) “A supremely nuanced account . . . This biography finds [Blanning] at the height of his powers.”—Literary Review

Professor Williams focuses on the classical period of German literature and theatre, when Shakespeare's plays were first staged in Germany in a relatively complete form, and when they had a potent influence on the writings of German drama and dramatic criticism.

The University of Pennsylvania Press is pleased to reissue in two volumes von Gronicka's study. The first volume discusses the early Russian reaction to Goethe and his work and his effect on Zhukovski (Goethe's translator and interpreter), Pushkin, Lermontov, the Pushkin Pleiade and the Decembrists, the Russian Romanticists, and the Westerners (Stankevich, Belinksi, and Herzen).

This volume describes the claustrophobic atmosphere, in which Joseph was trained to rule, and his attempts after 1765 as co-regent with his formidable mother.

The World's Greatest Books is a collection of finest world's literature collected by British educators Arthur Mee and John Alexander Hammerton, known for collaborations on various anthologies and encyclopedias. The selections have been collected and arranged in ten different divisions, from belles-letters, through works in natural sciences, to social science literature. An important bonus quality of the work is the shot critical, biographical and bibliographical commentary which goes along with every author and every section. Table of Contents: Volumes 1-8: Fiction Volumes 9-10: Lives and Letters Volume 11: Ancient History; Mediaeval History Volume 12: Modern History Volume 13: Religion; Philosophy Volume 14: Philosophy (continued) Economics Volume 15: Science Volume 16: Poetry and Drama Volume 17: Travel and Adventure Volume 18: Miscellaneous Literature