Groundbreaking in its approach, this is the definitive biography of William Pitt the Elder - a brilliant, yet tragic, British statesman.
A book that opens at the dawn of the British Empire - with the great sea battle at Quiberon Bay where French ships, intended for the 1759 invasion of Britain, are chased, caught and defeated by a fleet commanded by Admiral Sir Edward Hawke.
Groundbreaking in its approach, this is the definitive biography of William Pitt the Elder - a brilliant, yet tragic, British statesman.This remarkable book opens at the dawn of the British Empire - with the great sea battle at Quiberon Bay where French ships, intended for the 1759 invasion of Britain, are chased, caught and defeated by a fleet commanded by Admiral Sir Edward Hawke. In this momentous victory Britain effectively settled the outcome of the Seven Years' War and established itself as the world's dominant imperial power.At the heart of the conflict with France was William Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham and Britain's future Prime Minister. Weaving together military history and political biography Edward Pearce provides a portrait of the man 'with an eye like a diamond' - a man who had close ties with the slave trade and who preached war and British supremacy on a world stage. Alongside detailed descriptions of battles in Europe and North America we follow Pitt's career as a politician - one that was closely intertwined with General James Wolfe at Quebec; American independence; the slow mind of George III and the quick one of the rake and outsider John Wilkes.Edward Pearce scrutinises the real man at the heart of the historical events and mystique surrounding the legacy of Pitt the Elder, to present a rounded and masterful portrait of arguably the most powerful minister ever to guide Britain's foreign policy and of an age which marked a new epoch in history, when the balance of power in Europe and the world was set for almost two centuries.
“"Superb.”
Dazzling in its ways, glittering with clever insights and provocative comparisons -- John Campbell Mail on Sunday
Pearce shrewdly captured the problems involved in interpreting the career of a man who fell under the spell of his own speechifying -- E L Devlin Times Literary Supplement
Pitt was the hero...He was, as Edward Pearce argues in this revisionist biography, the show business man of war The Spectator
[Pearce] constantly, often illuminatingly and sometimes wittily, draws parallels between the English politics of Pitt's time and more recent events or personalities The Independent
This is an immensely readable book - informative, scholarly, but never dry -- Richard Ormrod The Tablet
Edward Pearce is a political journalist and author. He has been a leader writer for the Daily Express, a Commons sketch writer and leader writer for the Daily Telegraph, a columnist for the Sunday Times and the Guardian, and sketch writer for the New Statesman. He also writes regularly for the Yorkshire Post, and was a panellist on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze. He has written over 13 books, from The Senate of Lilliput (1983) to his most recent, The Great Man (2007), a life of Sir Robert Walpole.
'Dazzling in its ways, glittering with clever insights and provocative comparisons.' John Campbell, Mail on Sunday 'This is an immensely readable book - informative, scholarly, but never dry... Colourful and contemporary.' The Tablet 'Pearce presents the insights of revisionist scholarship in a densely written account of war and high politics... Despite Pitt's prowess as a showman, Pearce credibly demonstrates the Great Commoner's failings as an effective national leader.' Times Literary Supplement This remarkable book opens at the dawn of the British Empire - with the great sea battle at Quiberon Bay where French ships, intended for the 1759 invasion of Britain, are chased, caught and defeated by a fleet commanded by Admiral Sir Edward Hawke. In this momentous victory Britain effectively settled the outcome of the Seven Years War and established itself as the world's dominant imperial power. At the heart of the conflict with France was William Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham and Britain's future Prime Minister. Weaving together military history and political biography Edward Pearce provides a portrait of the man 'with an eye like a diamond' - a man who had close ties with the slave trade and who preached war and British supremacy on a world stage. Alongside detailed descriptions of battles in Europe and North America we follow Pitt's career as a politician; one that was closely intertwined with General James Wolfe at Quebec; American independence; the slow mind of George III and the quick one of the rake and outsider John Wilkes. Posterity has invested Pitt with a mystique and has presented him as heroic, a titan, a brilliant statesman and military strategist. Edward Pearce scrutinises Pitt's reputation and investigates the extent to which Britain's victories and imperial advances can be credited to Pitt alone or to a coalition of commanders, naval administrators and foreign allies such as Frederick the Great of Prussia. He also shows us Pitt the man - vain, ruthless, tortured with physical illness, succumbing to mental collapse. Pitt the Elder is a masterful portrait of arguably the most powerful minister ever to guide Britain's foreign policy and of an age which marked a new epoch in history, when the balance of power in Europe and the world was set for almost two centuries. Praise for Reform -the fight for the 1832 Reform Act 'Edward Pearce's exciting, amusing and engrossing account of how the 1832 Act became law - and how it very nearly did not. His meticulous research brings vividly to life the Commons and Lords debates that led up to the Act.' Gerald Kaufmann, Guardian
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