RaveThe Wall Street JournalMr. Mansel, building on his formidable reputation as the most stylish of historians of modern Europe, is as good at explaining and illustrating Louis’s decline as his ascendancy ... Copiously, beautifully and intelligently illustrated, complemented by excellent maps and diagrams (notably a ground-plan of Versailles), King of the World is one of the most stimulating and enjoyable works on European history to have been published for many a long year.
Helmut Walser Smith
PositiveThe Wall Street Journal...invigorating ... In tracking down the variations of the German nation \'in its time,\' Mr. Smith’s most original tools are maps: not metaphorical maps but actual maps ... Although Mr. Smith’s imaginative use of maps adds a new dimension to this account of Germany’s development, his work is primarily an exercise in intellectual history ... There is much to like about this book. If this is an old story, it is told in a new way. Germany: A Nation in Its Time is elegantly written and distinguished by sharp insights. Anyone interested in how, during the 20th century, the history of Germany came to be so horrible will be stimulated and entertained, if periodically appalled.
