The Life of Louis XVI

In a work which must currently rank as the definitive contribution to our understanding of Louis XVI as a man and a monarch, Hardman displays a quite extraordinary grasp of sources relating to the court and to the high politics of the ancien regime. -P.M. Jones, English Historical Review An up-to-date, immensely erudite and compelling study, the fruit of a lifetime's work on the king. It is also crisply, sometimes brilliantly,written. Hardman's style is accessible, often witty, and he has a gift for putting complex issues in a nutshell. Louis XVI remains one of the crucial characters in modern history . . . and this is now the best biography of him in any language. -Munro Price, Literary Review Hardman has devoted much of his life to Louis XVI; some of the excellent illustrations are of objects in his own collection. He uses many new sources, such as papers of the Navy minister the Marechal de Castries, and the magnificent diary of the ambassador the Marquis de Bombelles, spanning the entire period 1780-1822. -Philip Mansel, Spectator This is the product of a lifetime's research and writing on late eighteenth-century France by one of the foremost scholars of the era. Original, gripping and authoritative, it is the best biography in any language of Louis XVI, and a significant contribution to the history of the French Revolution. -Munro Price, author of The Perilous Crown: France Between Revolutions John Hardman has written a highly readable, well-paced biography of Louis XVI which draws on the most recent scholarship on French kingship and court politics. He shows sensitivity and sympathy for a monarch who was not blind to what was happening around him but who felt increasingly trapped by forces he could not control. -Alan Forrest, author of Napoleon: Life, Legacy, and Image This new life of Louis XVI, by the world's leading authority, not only tells all the good stories with considerable verve, it also offers insightful analyses of the politics of this tragic life that began in the palace of Versailles and ended on the scaffold of the Revolution. It is simply the most authoritative biography of Louis XVI ever written. -Peter Campbell, former professor of French History, University of Versailles