Recommendations on Fredrick the Great Bios? (1 Viewer)

[bradleyl30]

Do forum members have recommendations on good Fredrick the Great bios / histories?

I am currently considering:


Frederick the Great: The Magnificent Enigma by Robert Asprey

and

Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947
by Christopher Clark (Paperback) for a history of Prussia.

Thanks,

Larry

 

[bradleyl30]

Just wanted to see if anyone had recommendations.

 

[theBaron]

It depends on what you're looking for. You could pick up Nancy Mitford's 1968 book, "Frederick the Great", or Thomas Carlyle's biography, written about a century earlier or GP Gooch's "Frederick the Great (the two latter books are both much tougher going).

Christopher Duffy's "The Army of Frederick the Great" includes biographical information, though it's in the context of the style of kingship Frederick developed, and as step to understanding his role as a commander. But it's an excellent book, and I read my copy several times a year.

I don't know how much new material or how many new ways of looking at Frederick there can be, without getting into what I'd consider more spurious treatments of history, and considering that the subject has been pretty well examined in the 200-plus years since his death.

Prost!
Brad