The Last Emperor of Mexico: A Disaster in the New World

Description

'Superbly entertaining.' - Financial Times 'Jaw-dropping.' - Sunday Times 'Fascinating.' - Guardian 'Gripping.' - The Times 'Terrific . . . A page-turning history of imperial hubris and nemesis, deceit anddelusion, love and betrayal on a grand scale.' - Sunday Times In 1864, a young Austrian archduke by the name of Maximilian crossedthe Atlantic to assume a faraway throne. He had been lured into thevoyage by a duplicitous Napoleon III. Keen to spread his own interests abroad, the French emperor had promised Maximilian a hero's welcome.Instead, he walked into a bloody guerrilla war. With a head full of impracticalideals - and a penchant for pomp and butterflies - the new 'emperor' was singularly ill-equipped for what lay in store. This is the vivid history of this barely known, barely believable episode- a bloody tragedy of operatic proportions, the effects of which would befelt into the twentieth century and beyond.

After graduating from the University of Oxford, EdwardShawcross lived and worked in France, then South Koreaand finally Colombia before returning to London where hecompleted a PhD at UCL. His research specialised onFrench imperialism in Latin America and the Mexican intellectualthought that underpinned the Second MexicanEmpire.