A strange episode that is at once a central part of American history and a tragic tale of human ambition and cultural misunderstanding. In an ill-starred undertaking, Napoleon III attempted to install Archduke Maximilian of Austria as the Emperor of Mexico. The move pitted liberals against conservatives, and the New World against the Old--and ended with Maximilian's execution, the insanity of his wife, Charlotte, and the emergence of the United States as a world power. "Jasper Ridley has written a riveting account of an episode which is exciting throughout and tragic at the end; it is also essential reading to understand the history of the United States today."--Antonia Fraser.