Yale University Press
The Life of Louis XVI
Key Metrics
- John Hardman
- Yale University Press
- Paperback
- 9780300273649
- -
- -
- Biography & Autobiography > Royalty
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
The definitive contribution to our understanding of Louis XVI as a man and a monarch.--P. M. Jones, English Historical Review
Monumental. . . . Scholars probing the mysteries of the late Old Regime and French Revolution will be working in its shadow for many years to come.--Thomas E. Kaiser, Journal of Modern History
Louis XVI of France, who was guillotined in 1793 during the Revolution and Reign of Terror, is commonly portrayed in fiction and film either as a weak and stupid despot in thrall to his beautiful, shallow wife, Marie Antoinette, or as a cruel and treasonous tyrant. Historian John Hardman disputes both these versions in a fascinating new biography of the ill-fated monarch. Based in part on new scholarship that has emerged over the past two decades, Hardman's illuminating study describes a highly educated ruler who, though indecisive, possessed sharp political insight and a talent for foreign policy; who often saw the dangers ahead but could not or would not prevent them; and whose great misfortune was to be caught in the violent center of a major turning point in history.
Hardman's dramatic reassessment of the reign of Louis XVI sheds a bold new light on the man, his actions, his world, and his policies, including the king's support for America's War of Independence, the intricate workings of his court, the disastrous Diamond Necklace Affair, and Louis's famous dash to Varennes.
Author Bio
John Hardman was Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Edinburgh from 1969-1983 and Senior Research Fellow at Sussex university from 2000-2004. He is the author of many books on eighteenth-century France and has appeared in several television programs, most recently the BBC 2 series on Versailles.
His most recent book The life of Louise XVI is the joint winner of the Franco-British Society Literary Prize for 2016.
Source: Andrew Lownie Literary Agency
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