No Swede has wielded as much power for as long as Axel Oxenstiernaand few have used their power as constructively. Oxenstierna became Chancellor of Sweden in 1612 and held this position until his death in 1654. He remains Swedens only European statesman, and he played a central role in the creation of the modern state. Gunnar Wetterbergs monumental two-volume biography, Kanslern: Axel Oxenstierna in His Time I-II, has been revised by the author into a more focused volume that highlights Oxenstiernas role in state-building and his international contributions. The condensed version was published in paperback in 2013 and has now, for the first time, been translated into English. Despite Oxenstiernas profound impact on both Swedish and European history, there has never been a comprehensive biography of him in English until now.
