“A vivid, gripping account ... An involving tale of cerebral passion and humanist achievement.” — Edmund White
“James Buchan tells the extraordinary story with a novelist’s narrative zip and brilliant flashes of detail...[A] marvellous book.” — Ferdinand Mount, The Sunday Times
“Hugely readable and comprehensive…an utterly compelling and captivating work…An absolute joy to read.” — Irvine Welsh, The Guardian
“A sparkling and cleverly written book.” — Arthur Herman, The Scotsman
“Entertainingly drawn…Buchan makes difficult subjects accessible and, sometimes, poetic.” — Economist
“An extraordinary story…lovingly narrated and superbly depicted by Buchan in this elegant, authoritative work.” — The Observer
“Buchan writes well and does a fine job arguing for Edinburgh’s disproportionately large impact on 18th century intellectual history.” — Publishers Weekly
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