A. J. P. Taylor (1906-90) was one of Britain's most popular and authoritative historians. He wrote definitive works of British and diplomatic history which also became bestsellers, and was much admired for the many television lectures he gave - which he delivered without notes or visual aids and which ended precisely on time.His essays have always been recognized as amongst his best work and therefore some of the finest historical writing of the last forty years. They provide short and incisive assessments of major historical figures and issues.Combining essays from earlier collections with pieces previously unpublished in volume form, this book brings together the best of Taylor's essays on nineteenth-century British and continental European history, including pieces on Napoleon, Metternich, 1848, Bismarck, Disraeli, Parnell and the Second International.He once commented that he possessed a 'ruthless intellect, criticizing everything, never satisfied, always forcing up the standards of academic truth and artistic achievement'. Read Less