Twilight of princes (Milestones of history)

Twilight of Princes introduces the reader to the kings and their challengers, the statesmen and philosophers, the scientists and artists whose ambitions transformed their times: Louis XIV, the glittering symbol of absolute power who brought France to the apogee of its glory; Ch'ien-lung, on the other side of the world, who presided over an equally bedazzling Chinese Empire; James Watt, who devised the first efficient steam engine: Henry Fielding whose rollicking Tom Jones set the English novel along lines it continues to follow; Thomas Jefferson, the Virginia patriot who drafted the American colonies' declaration of independence; Frederick the Great of Prussia, whose cynical deal with Catherine the Great of Russia and Maria Theresa of Austria partitioned Poland, thereby eliminating for a century a great sovereign state.