Joseph II: Volume 2, Against the World, 1780–1790

'… splendid second volume of his biography of Joseph II … This book should restore Joseph II to his rightful position, holding a central place in the history of Austria, the Habsburg monarchy, Germany and central Europe.' Steven Beller, The Times Literary Supplement

'… splendid second volume of his biography of Joseph II … This book should restore Joseph II to his rightful position, holding a central place in the history of Austria, the Habsburg monarchy, Germany and central Europe.' Steven Beller, The Times Literary Supplement

'Derek Beales's two volumes are a triumphant vindication of the potential and utility of traditional biography, particularly of a figure of such importance, at a time when the value of the genre is once again being reasserted … Discriminating scholarship, acute psychological insight, a consistently questioning intellect which is never content with received wisdom or the easy answer, and elegant, spacious writing which can be waspish when it needs to be, combine to make this the finest political biography of an eighteenth-century ruler ever written.' Hamish Scott, The Historical Journal

'… a magisterial study of the Austrian monarchy and continental Europe in the second half of the eighteenth century.' Francia-Recensio

Derek Beales is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. His previous publications include Joseph II. Volume I: In the Shadow of Maria Theresa, 1741–80 (Cambridge University Press, 1987), Prosperity and Plunder: European Catholic Monasteries in the Age of Revolution, 1650–1810 (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and Enlightenment and Reform in Eighteenth-Century Europe (2005).