Seven Ordeals of Count Cagliostro - Softcover

McCalman, Iain

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0732273986 ISBN 13: 9780732273989

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd

Synopsis

Guiseppe Balsamo, the Count of Cagliostro, was an 18th-century Sicilian who became a magician, mystic, healer, Freemason, swindler, and last, but not least, a pornographer. He was so controversial, he became a central figure in "Faust and the Magic Flute". This work features his story that is told through the eyes of seven of his contemporaries.

About this title

About the Author:

Iain McCalman was born in Nyasaland, Africa, in 1947, did his schooling in Zimbabwe, and his BA, MA and Phd in Canberra and Melbourne, Australia. He is currently Professor and Director of the Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, and Deputy Director of the Australian Reseach Concil's Centre for Cross-Cultural Reserarch. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and has held numerous Visiting Research Fellowships in Britain and the United States, most recently at All Souls College, Oxford.

Review:

"The dodgy count's switchback story is told here with tremendous aplomb" * Financial Times * "McCalman reveals the underside of the Age or Reason, and the dark man who served as its angel" * Sunday Times * "In glittering splendour McCalman reveals the underside of the age of reason, and the dark man who served as its angel" * Sunday Times * "Ian McCalman has written a fast-paced adventure and expose of the steamy side of the 18th century." * Daily Telegraph * "This rich, fantastic, devilishly romantic book about one of the great flim-flam men of history is quite brilliant - utterly absorbing, bewilderingly clever and, like the man himself, a charming puzzle from beginning to end" * Simon Winchester *

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
• ISBN 10: 0732273986
• ISBN 13: 9780732273989
• Binding: Paperback