This book is the second and final volume of Derek Beales's magisterial biography of the emperor Joseph II.

Introduction; 1. Joseph, his ministers, the court and the constitution; 2. The first six months: Josephism intensified (29 November 1780 to 22 May 1781); 3. Foreign policy and the Russian alliance, 1780-2; 4. Joseph's visit to Belgium, the Dutch Republic and France, May-August 1781; 5. Toleration of Protestants, Greek Orthodox and Jews; 6. The Pope's visit to Vienna (22 March-22 April 1782); 7. Joseph and the peasants, 1780-1785/6; 8. Josephism rampant I: monasteries, general seminaries and parishes; 9. Josephism rampant II: lay education and a new Catholicism; 10. 'The Lion's Claws Bared', 1782-4; 11. Foreign policy, 1782-6: The Scheldt, the 'Greek Project' and the Crimea, the Dutch 'War' and the Bavarian Exchange; 12. Joseph as Emperor; 13. Joseph in Vienna: his routine and his impact, especially on music; 14. 'Just One Body, Uniformly Governed': Hungary, the Tyrol, Italy and Belgium, 1784-7; 15. Joseph's Enlightenment: freemasonry, law reform and police; 16. War against the Turks, August 1787-December 1788; 17. Rebellion, victory and death, January 1789-February 1790; Conclusion.

Derek Beales is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. His previous publications include Joseph II. Volume I: In the Shadow of Maria Theresa, 1741-80 (Cambridge University Press, 1987), Prosperity and Plunder: European Catholic Monasteries in the Age of Revolution, 1650-1810 (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and Enlightenment and Reform in Eighteenth-Century Europe (2005).