Blazing star: the life and times of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

The scandalous life of England's most notorious libertine, the Earl of Rochester, portrayed by Johnny Depp in The Libertine Restoration England witnessed an extraordinary flowering of literature, music, architecture, and science. At the center of the burgeoning cultural life of the age was John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. A peerlessly witty satirist, Rochester epitomized the manners of the court of Charles II. But he was also a libertine and drunkard, a writer of scandalously offensive poetry who got himself banned from court. Rochester died of syphilis at the age of just 33, leaving behind him a mystery as to the true nature of his character. This is a compelling portrait of a remarkable yet complex man and of a cultural golden age that often spilled over into depravity, and the only biography of the Earl to date to use the uncensored poetry.