Wolfram Siemann

"A superb biographical portrait and work of historical analysis. Let us hope that it will serve if not as a manual then at least as an inspiration—good statesmanship is needed more than ever." —Brendan Simms, Wall Street Journal "Brilliantly refreshes our understanding of Metternich and his era. [He] was an intellectual in politics of a kind now rare." —Christopher Clark,...

A compelling new biography that recasts the most important European statesman of the first half of the nineteenth century, famous for his alleged archconservatism, as a friend of realpolitik and reform, pursuing international peace. Metternich has a reputation as the epitome of reactionary conservatism. Historians treat him as the archenemy of progress, a ruthless aristocrat who used his power as...