Magnificent Rebels

Chosen as a BOOK OF THE YEAR in The Times, The Spectator, Prospect, Sunday Times, Economist, New Statesman, Telegraph, Financial Times, TLS, New York Times, and Washington Post.

''This is ridiculous. No book about German philosophy has any right to be this fun. This witty, gossipy, sparkling history . . . fizzed with creative energy'' The Times, Book of the Year

Magnificent Rebels is - well - magnificent. This is how such books should be written, with clarity, passion and delight. A thrilling intellectual adventure'' JOHN BANVILLE, Book of the Year
''History writing at its best'' The Spectator, Book of the Year
''A thrilling page-turner, by turns comical & tragic... My book of the year so far'' TOM HOLLAND

In the 1790s an extraordinary group of friends changed the world. Disappointed by the French Revolution''s rapid collapse into tyranny, what they wanted was nothing less than a revolution of the mind. The rulers