Download or read book The Great Elector written by Derek Mckay and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-08 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this first biography in English for fifty years, Derek McKay avoids the limitation of seeing Frederick William primarily as precursor of the 'Enlightened' Frederick the Great. Instead, he roots him firmly in his own time, a dynastic, protestant ruler like many another in Germany, but gifted with the toughness and opportunism to overcome the hostility of his local nobilities and of the surrounding great powers.