''A scintillating, encyclopaedic history, rich in detail from the arcane to the familiar... a veritable tour de force'' Richard Overy, New Statesman''Transnational history at its finest ... .. social, political and cultural themes swirl together in one great canvas of immense detail and beauty'' Gerard DeGroot, The Times''Dazzlingly erudite and entertaining'' Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday TimesA masterpiece which brings to life an extraordinarly turbulent and dramatic era of revolutionary change.The Pursuit of Power draws on a lifetime of thinking about nineteenth-century Europe to create an extraordinarily rich, surprising and entertaining panorama of a continent undergoing drastic transformationThe book aims to reignite the sense of wonder that permeated this remarkable era, as rulers and ruled navigated overwhelming cultural, political and technological changes. It was a time where what was seen as modern with amazing speed appeared old-fashioned, where huge cities sprang up in a ge