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

By Alexander Larman

The scandalous life of England's most notorious libertine, the Earl of Rochester, portrayed by Johnny Depp in The Libertine Restoration England witnessed an extraordinary flowering of literature, music, architecture, and science. At the center of the burgeoning cultural life of the age was John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. A peerlessly witty satirist, Rochester epitomized the manners of the court of Charles II. But he was also a libertine and drunkard, a writer of scandalously offensive poetry who got himself banned from court. Rochester died of syphilis at the age of just 33, leaving behind him a mystery as to the true nature of his character. This is a compelling portrait of a remarkable yet complex man and of a cultural golden age that often spilled over into depravity, and the only biography of the Earl to date to use the uncensored poetry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Oct 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781781852644

Alexander Larman

ALEXANDER LARMAN is a historian and journalist. He is the author of Blazing Star (2014), the life of Lord Rochester, and writes for the Observer, the Telegraph and the Guardian, as well as the New Statesman and the Times Literary Supplement.