Economist "Scintillating and original." Wall Street Journal "A sweeping history of the rise of state control in Europe from 1789 to 1848... Mr. Zamoyski demonstrates an impressive command of political history and international relations as he chronicles the practices of state-sponsored censorship, surveillance and brutality that, in his view, ultimately prompted the revolutions they were intended to prevent." Atlantic "Zamoyski, who writes with flair and an eye for amusing detail, is particularly good on things Russian." Spectator, UK "Splendidly provocative... [F]ull of arresting details and sharp asides. Adam Zamoyski writes like a dancer at a court ball: gracious, patrician, masterful, sure-footed." Daily Beast "Stimulating... elegantly sardonic... Zamoyski's main point is clear and unimpeachable: Generating fear in the populace may be an excellent way to bolster state power, but it's a lousy substitute for actual information and realistic assessment of the challenges a nation faces." Library Journal "Provides insight into the political elites who sought to maintain the status quo...In pursuit of the story of paranoia and repression, Zamoyski has mined an impressive selection of primary sources from Britain to Austria." Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gulag: A History "With characteristic flair and elegance, Adam Zamoyski dissects the paranoia, suspicion, and conspiracy theories which followed in the wake of the French Revolution. He sketches out the birth of the modern police state in this era, as well as the origins of European totalitarianism and the beginnings of what we would later come to call class struggle. Phantom Terror is a timely and original history book, a brilliant guide to the past which will inspire reflections about the present as well." Andrew Roberts, author of The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War "This diligently researched, beautifully written, and passionately argued work of scholarship completely convinces. Adam Zamoyski conclusively proves his case against the reactionary European Legitimist monarchy-dictatorships, and he does so with appropriately aristocratic panache. In so doing he leads an entire herd of sacred cows to the abattoir of history. This is revisionist history at its absolute best." Open Letters Monthly "Zamoyski has mastered the art of putting his readers as close to the thinking minds of his historical subjects as they're ever likely to get. He's particularly good at doing this for what we call the Napoleonic era; his 2004 book Moscow 1812 and his 2007 book Rites of Peace are masterpieces of historical insight, and Phantom Terror continues that happy pattern by digging into moods and atmospheres. Though-provoking." New York Review of Books "A vigorous and colorful account of this era of restoration, incorporating significant new research by the author and his team of assistants; and it includes a strikingly effective deployment of Slavic sources by Zamoyski." Kirkus "[Zamoyski's] point is important, and his book comprehensively examines the role of the powerful over the weak and the effects of governmental overreactions." Publishers Weekly "A meticulous, thorough account... Zamoyski takes an infamous 18th-century class struggle and painstakingly shows how the resulting suppression manifested itself through sophisticated spy networks and Germany's heightened nationalism, as well as a chasm between the economic and social classes that persists today." The Times, UK "Vivid, terrifying and often quite funny... Zamoyski admits that his story 'holds enormous relevance to the present.' But, being a careful and wise historian, he leaves it to the reader to draw the conclusions that seem logical... Superbly drawn." Washington Times "Mr. Zamoyski documents, in indisputable detail, a system that relied on bumblers and fumblers, 'security agents' so inept as to make the Keystone Cops look like Sherlock Holmes in comparison... [A] work of serious history." Weekly Standard "An able chronicler of Polish history, Zamoyski has also written studies of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna, giving him the fluency to balance stories of bumbling brothel tipsters with accounts of aristocratic conferences in Troppau and Laibach. It is this blend of high politics and sordidness that makes Phantom Terror so enjoyable a narrative. Zamoyski delivers on a relevant topic."
