A touchstone in the 20th century's thinking about morality and politics

Quite astonishing . . . her indictment of Eichmann reached beyond the man to the historical world in which true thinking was vanishing

Deals with the greatest problem of our time . . . the problem of the human being within a modern totalitarian system

Peter Marshall's excellent biography portrays the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II as a pivotal figure in the transition from the medieval worldview to our modern scientific outlook... Marshall succeeds brilliantly in capturing both the spirit of the age in which Rudolf lived and the complex character of the man he describes as "one of the last magi"

You could do a lot worse than to pack this book in your suitcase when you're visiting the city. His lucid prose and clear exposition will help you to decipher a good bit of Prague's labyrinth, and to explain in part why the capital of one of the less important European countries is one of the great cities of the world

The pleasure of this book for me, in addition to such stimulating details, is that the Holy Roman Empire on the cusp of the 17th century is terra incognita, to be approached with a fresh eye... Rudoph's tolerance deserves a wider audience in our fractious age

A very readable history... Marshall rightly argues, as an enabler of scientific, artistic and mystical insight, Rudolf has no peer

It was a magical moment in the history of Western civilization, when anything was possible. Mr Marshall brings it all wonderfully to life

An entertaining description of life at the heart of a Europe stained by the clash of new and old ideas... an enjoyable description of what was an extraordinary epoch

An insightful and perceptive record of a city that revolutionised culture and science

Fascinating