
Overview: The Sun King is a dazzling double portrait of Louis XIV and Versailles, the opulent court from which he ruled. With characteristic elan, Nancy Mitford reconstructs the daily life of king and courtiers during France's golden age, offering vivid sketches of the architects, artists, and gardeners responsible for the creation of the most magnificent palace Europe had yet seen. Mitford lays bare the complex and deadly intrigues in the stateroom and the no less high-stakes power struggles in the bedroom. At the center of it all is Louis XIV himself, the demanding, mercurial, but remarkably resilient sovereign who guided France through nearly three quarters of the Grand Siecle. Brimming with sumptuous detail and delicious bons mots, and written in a witty, conversational style, The Sun King restores a distant glittering century to vibrant life.
Publisher:
New York, NY : New York Review Books, 2012, |©1967.
ISBN:
9781590174913
1590174917
1590174917
Characteristics:
x, 189 pages ;,21 cm
Alternative Title:
Louis 14th at Versailles.
Louis XIV at Versailles.
Louis XIV at Versailles.


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Add a CommentA rather boring book, filled with semi-important anecdotes. The descriptions are rather poor, and the book lacks any pictures either of the figures written of, or the places. The worst part of it is the awful typesetting: a whopping 46 lines to the page, which is even more than cheap paperbacks have (usually 42 lines), making the book visually more difficult to read.