William II was born in 1859, grandson to Queen Victoria. He became Kaiser aged 29 & two years later drove Bismarck to resign as Chancellor. He seemed to delight in power-grabbing, bloodshed & the belligerent aims of his generals. He is widely perceived as a warmonger, to blame for World War I, & an anti-semite, though the Nazis branded him a Jew-lover. MacDonogh, widely praised for his biography of Frederick the Great, takes a fresh look a the man & these charges & finds much of the dogma about him unfair. A controversial & fascinating new life of a complex statesman.… (more)