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. 'It's been a superb year for history but Augustus the Strong ranks up there with the very very best! I cant recommend it strongly enough' - Simon Sebag-Montefiore'The wonderful story of one of the worst monarchs in European history, told with enormous wit and scholarship by a supremely talented historian. 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*Shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography 2025* Augustus is one of the great what-ifs.