Blazing Star: The Life and Times of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

He was 'THE WICKEDEST MAN ALIVE'. He went to Oxford University at the age of 12. He slept with his first prostitute at 13. He was an alcoholic by 14. He was imprisoned in the Tower at 18. He was acclaimed a war hero at 19. He died of syphilis at the age of 33. He was English history's first celebrity. He was John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester: Poet, dandy and libertine. BLAZING STAR is a compelling portrait of a remarkable and complex man, and of a cultural golden age that often spilled over into depravity.

Reviews

Insightful and illuminating... engagingly partisan and elegantly informative' * The Times *
An informative and enlightening biography * The Sunday Times *
This racy tale is told in scholarly but lively detail by Alex Larman in a beautifully written first book * Daily Express *
The most comprehensive portrait of Rochester yet * Daily Mail *
Very good, assiduously researched and well written * Scotland on Sunday *
Challenges the accepted wisdom that has prevailed for centuries that Wilmot was a dastardly blighter in his conduct and a pornographer in his poetry, painting instead a portrait of one of English literature's brightest lights who died, as bright lights do, far too young * Good Book Guide *

Author Bio

Alex Larman is a freelance journalist who has written for the TLS, the Guardian, and the New Statesman, as well as the Spectator and the Observer. He has also written a radio play.