P. E. Caquet is a senior member of Hughes Hall, Cambridge. His PhD was published as The Orient, the Liberal Movement, and the Eastern Crisis of 1839–41, and his other books include The Invention of Realpolitik, 1848–1871 and Opium’s Orphans: The 200-Year History of the War on Drugs. Before studying as a historian at Cambridge, he lived for ten years in Prague. He is fluent in Czech, Slovak, French, and German.

