Sun King: Amazon.ca: Nancy Mitford: Books

Product Description

This work takes as its subject Louis XIV at Versailles - from the moment he decided to transform his father's hunting lodge into the greatest palace in Europe to his death there 54 years later. It covers the daily life of the king, the court and the government during the period of France's apogee in military power and artistic achievement. The book discusses the plans for and the building of the palace, and the creation of remarkable elaborate works of art with which it was filled. The book reconstructs the course of Louis's love affairs, culminating in his secret marriage to Madame de Maintenon, episodes such as the affair of the poisons, the creation of the School for Girls at Saint-Cyr, Lord Portland's embassy and the marriage of the Duchess of Bourgogne.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

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4 star:		(2)
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Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty and personable, good introduction to the subject., Jun 4 2002

By

Cas (the Idaho mountains) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sun King (Paperback)

Here's "Lifestyles of the Obscenely Wealthy and Powerful"! I admit I'd never read much about this period of history (I'm fond of joking that my in-depth knowledge of politics and history more or less ends with Elizabeth I's death), but the bit I read at the bookstore made this book irresistible. I passed up an Alison Weir for this, but I don't regret the choice at all. It is both charming and knowledgable, with a witty, personable, almost gossipy tone.

There's a lot of information here, packaged with lots of pictures and glossy pages. It is a lovely book to look at purely on an aesthetic level. But do take the time to actually read it! Though sparse in areas, it is a rich look at the life of Louis, and at the lifestyle of a courtier of his day. The creation of Versailles is gone into in much detail, as are sexual politics and wartime attitudes. Mostly this focuses on Louis' personal life and that of his court and how Versailles came about, so there isn't much here about actual wars or about international politics. But what there is is just stupendous. I'd call this a must-have for a beginner in French history. I'm very glad I got it.

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Sun King, Aug 20 2001

By

Kenneth Gunnar Ramonet (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sun King (Paperback)

Nancy Mitford came to me by way of this book and, ignorant of the incredible talents that lie with her, her sisters and the aristocratic family into which she was born. Since then, I have devoured Nancy's fiction, her personal history and I have much more to learn. However, it is her talents as a biographer and historian, perhaps best exemplified with this book, that I believe she achieves the realization of her greatest gift; that is to send life into the dead hand of history. In "The Sun King" history comes alive as I have truly never experienced. Here is a book that takes heretofore one dimensional characters and fills their frames with humanity, giving them dimemsionality, life. She uncovers the perspective that sheds light on each characters good and bad side, turning Louis XIV, Monsieur, The King's wives, his children, in fact the whole of the court at Versailles into a vision in one's head that makes it easy to understand why the Ancien Regime in France can still provide relevance to a contemporary world that approximates it so little. Relevance and topic interest, to be sure, is the most amazing feat for a historian to achieve. Nancy Mitford with "The Sun King" stands among rarified company in such an achievement.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Chatty and Charming, Jun 21 2000

By

P A Brown (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sun King (Paperback)

Nancy Mitford is not so much a historian as a gossip. She loves using words like delicious or delightful that more scholarly types would eschew. But her histories are delicious, full of little details of dress and deportment, disapproving profiles of people who weren't much fun. She forgives the extravagant Sun King for and his heirs for bankrupting France because they did it with exquisite style and taste. Although I want to disapprove of Nancy's chats on the basis of their casualness and fawning over the rich and lovely, I just cannot help loving them. As she so often said, "Oh, admit!" I do.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, good info, but needs more on political/wars side
A very good book on Louis XIV and the court life during the Age of the Sun King, but it would have been even better with more general, easy to understand events and political... Read more

Published on Nov 2 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent look into the lives of French Aristocracy
"The Sun King" was a fascinating look into the life of Louis XIV and his courtiers at Versailles. Read more

Published on Oct 3 1998