"A brilliant and enduring achievement...history of the highest order combining thorough research with vivid narrative and thoughtful assessment."--Arthur M. Schlesinger
"One of the greatest non-fiction books I ve ever read . . . Hughes brings us an entire world."
Los Angeles Times
"A great achievement: Hughes has a story to tell as vivid, large-scale, and appalling as anything by Dickens or Solzhenitsyn, but one that s virtually unknown until the writing of this splendid book." Susan Sontag
"Engrossing . . . richly peopled with bizarre and compelling characters."
The New York Times Book Review
"A magnificent history, with a richness of detail that is as mesmerizing as it is horrifying. . . . It is both passionate and compassionate."
The Washington Post Book World
"Splendid . . . Robert Hughes combines the narrative skills of the authors of
Mutiny on the Bounty with the sharp eye of de Tocqueville." Gorde Vidal
"A brilliant and enduring achievement . . . history of the highest order combining thorough research with vivid narrative and thoughtful assessment." Arthur M. Schlesinger"
-One of the greatest non-fiction books I've ever read . . . Hughes brings us an entire world.- --
Los Angeles Times
-A great achievement: Hughes has a story to tell as vivid, large-scale, and appalling as anything by Dickens or Solzhenitsyn, but one that's virtually unknown--until the writing of this splendid book.- --Susan Sontag
-Engrossing . . . richly peopled with bizarre and compelling characters.- --
The New York Times Book Review
-A magnificent history, with a richness of detail that is as mesmerizing as it is horrifying. . . . It is both passionate and compassionate.- --
The Washington Post Book World
-Splendid . . . Robert Hughes combines the narrative skills of the authors of
Mutiny on the Bounty with the sharp eye of de Tocqueville.- --Gorde Vidal
-A brilliant and enduring achievement . . . history of the highest order combining thorough research with vivid narrative and thoughtful assessment.- --Arthur M. Schlesinger
"One of the greatest non-fiction books I've ever read . . . Hughes brings us an entire world." --
Los Angeles Times
"A great achievement: Hughes has a story to tell as vivid, large-scale, and appalling as anything by Dickens or Solzhenitsyn, but one that's virtually unknown--until the writing of this splendid book." --Susan Sontag
"Engrossing . . . richly peopled with bizarre and compelling characters." --
The New York Times Book Review
"A magnificent history, with a richness of detail that is as mesmerizing as it is horrifying. . . . It is both passionate and compassionate." --
The Washington Post Book World
"Splendid . . . Robert Hughes combines the narrative skills of the authors of
Mutiny on the Bounty with the sharp eye of de Tocqueville." --Gorde Vidal
"A brilliant and enduring achievement . . . history of the highest order combining thorough research with vivid narrative and thoughtful assessment." --Arthur M. Schlesinger
'An extraordinary vivid yet authentic account of the birthpangs of a nation. A work of real distinction' Philip Ziegler