Known for his book Last Days in Old Europe: Trieste '79, Vienna '85, Prague '89 and Playing for Time: Guido Schmidt and the Struggle for Austria, Richard Bassett now released a book on Maria Theresa. Having travelled through Central Europe and been a correspondent for The Times, he has dabbled with the thematic for a bigger part of his life.In Maria Theresa: The Habsburg Empress in Her Time, Richard Bassett sheds light on the life of one of the most influential European monarchs of the 18th century. Maria Theresa was the only female ruler under the Habsburgs, placing her as a significant character around the time, and still renowned nowadays. Richard Bassett makes an effort to contextualise her reign within the broader context of European history, helping the reader, who may not be familiar with it, to have access to a wider knowledge of that time. This biography offers an overall view of the monarchy, the Habsburgs dynasty, throughout the reign of this remarkable woman.