King of the World - The Life of Louis XIV: Literature and Assisted Survival

Llegó con la cubierta rota y manchada.

This isn't a book for casual reading. The amount of scholarship here is prodigious! We've got almost 500 pages of rather small print: a perfect book to pick up when you're stuck at home due to the plague. The book goes into great detail about the various factions and hangers-on in the court: Louis needed a palace the size of Versailles to deal with all these characters. The various mistresses, gay liaisons (including those of the king's brother), the relations with the Jacobites (the Old Pretender, the would-be James III, was at the court for a long time, stirring up trouble). All this gets discussed at length. What exactly was it that made Louis great anyhow (Louis le Grand, the Sun King)? Ironically, he didn't actually do much that benefitted France in the long run. He waged a number of cruel and ultimately pointless wars on the northeastern frontier. He built a gigantic palace (several, actually). He bankrupted France (see the previous two items). He put his grandson on the throne of Spain, for a while. He resumed vigorous persecution of Protestants. But the 17th century wouldn't have been half so interesting without him. The book assumes you know at least some French, though longer passages are translated, but sometimes it gets a little obscure: the first Dauphin dies of "petite vérole," for example, and it's not obvious that this means "smallpox." And I must echo the comment of another reviewer that the book isn't well bound: it was falling apart halfway through. I got the paper version, rather than Kindle, to see the layout of Versailles, but it turned out that the biggest advantage was the many pages of genealogies, which would have been unreadable on Kindle. These were much-thumbed pages which you need to keep track of who's who.

I am about half way through the book and am finding it very thorough and I am learning more about Louis XIV. I like the detailed maps and genealogical charts to help me understand the intricacies of the battles, both military and family generated! Also like the color plates. Highly recommend this book.

A first reaction: as a biography, this is terrific. As a book, the binding is a bad joke.

After watching Versailles the series I wanted to know more. Louis XIV was truly a jack of all trades and a master of none but he certainly knew how to impress. He reigned a very very long time so his impact on France was immense