About this title: This biography of Marie Antoinette describes her royal upbringing, her arranged marriage, the difficulties she had getting accepted, her indiscretions, and the political turmoil--which her behavior helped stir up--that led to her death by guillotine in 1793. A New York Times Notable Book for 2001.
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Description: Fine. 0307277747 Excellent condition Soft cover book, clean pages, No creases to spine, this book is Near NEW! Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Anchor Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780307277749ISBN:0307277747
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 512 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. Book is brand new excellent condition, daily shipping. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fine. Almost in new condition. Book shows only very slight signs of use. Cover and binding are undamaged and pages show minimal use. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
"After visiting Paris and Versailles this summer I wanted to learn more about the history of France and in particularly Marie Antoinette. This book tells the story of a 15 year old Marie Antoinette who is wed for political reasons to the French Dauphin. Neither are well educated or prepared to become King and Queen at early ages. Fraser is a detailed historian and particularly in the first half, explained how she came to conclusions about very intimate parts of life at Versailles. There are many names and people which makes it complex and a little hard to keep straight but the basic narrative is easy to follow. I have visited Marie's jail cel where she waited for trial and execution but still didn't realize how long she was there and how incredibly unusual it was for her to be killed. (Normal punishment for a royal would have been exile or life in a convent.) I would recommend this to others really wanting to know more about Louis XVI and Antoinette. I still need to learn more about the French revolution and what led the people to revolt and place so much blame on a Queen who really had no power over her husband the King."
"WOW. This was a read. Whoever said "it is good to be king" noticeably didn't add "and Queen" to that sentence. For all of the luxuries Marie Antoinette was afforded in early life, she never had an easy life.
It took awhile to get through this book as it is VERY LONG, but this was an excellent biography of Marie Antoinette, meticulously researched and interesting to read. This book is VERY DENSE with her whole life chronicaled, so if you are not interested in Marie Antoinette, French history etc. I would not recommend this book to you. You will die of boredom. But if you are interested in learning about her life, and the life of court at Versailles, and of aristocrats, leading up to the French Revolution and the dynamics that led to downfall of her, her husband and the French monarchy, this will be very informative for you. What I liked about the book, is that I feel I now have a better sense of the historical time period and Marie Antoinette's part in it. In history class,we learn gross overstatements such as- she is the reason for the French Revolution, she stated- let them eat cake (she did not), that she only cared about entertainment and fancy clothes, etc. This book really showed her in a differnt light and suggested that as an Austrain foregin Queen, she is easily a scapegoat of the French Revolution. She was only 14 years old when married the dauphin of France (Louis) and removed from her home Austria to France. She and her husband were quite young and ill prepared when they inherited the French throne and that in many ways, she and her husband Loius, were simply a product of their times and of what the French monarchy had always been. This book recounted several of her acts of charity to people, and love of children. While she did love the high life, parties, gambling etc. in her youth, she was also tourmented during this time by having a rather platonic marriage and not being able to produce an heir. Once she did become a mother, she became much more serious. She was also a great patron of the arts. I enjoyed reading of her marriage to Louis 16 because, though they had some awkward patches at first, it appears that they genuinely loved each other with a very deep and loyal freindship. The story of living in Versailles, and then leaving Versailles (some time after the Storming of the Bastille), attempting an escape, and the many years being a prisoner in France was fascinating. I don't think I realized that she and her family were help captive by the Revolutionaries for so long before their trumped up trials and hasty executions. I think what I took from this book is that "the times, they were, a changin." Unfortunately for Marie and Louis, they were in the unfortunate position of being the monarchs during the time when long due reforms finally came to a head. While of course looking at the full picture the gulf between the rich and the poor was devastating. Clearly reforms and therefore a revolution were necessary and perhaps inevitable, it was enlightening to read the other side, making a full picture- that Marie and Loius were human too, just people. Looking at their lives in the big picture context, they acted the best that they could with the limited knowledge that they had grown up with, that of a dying monarchy. This book made Marie Antoinette very human for me and caused me to have much less judgement against her and greatly increased my respect for her."
"Alright, I'm going to try to start writing little reviews about my books. I enjoyed this biography and I found it to be a fairly easy read, as far as biographies go. Still, it's pretty long (458 pages), so by the end I was definitely ready for it to be over. It disproves the awful (and undeserved) reputation she had for being manipulative, seductive, evil, etc, while also depicting her human flaws. I also enjoyed the balance between her personal life and her political life--you get some of each, but don't expect to learn many private details. I was surprised that by the end of this book I had learned very little about her affair with Axel Fersen--the author didn't seem to be sure as to whether it actually happened or not. Still, I learned enough about her character that by end of the book (at her execution) she had earned my sympathy. She was not a cruel or manipulative or unusually indulgent leader, but an uneducated--if courageous--Queen who was simply trying to fulfill her duty at the side of a very shy, indecisive, incompetent King Louis XVI."
"This is my kind of history. If those shows on the history channel about medieval weapons are history for boys, this is history for the girlies. It feels like reading an 18th century tabloid. In a really good way. I could not put it down, not even to brush my hair. (I needed one of Marie's famous horse-hair wigs). I loved the politics, the history, and Frasier's analysis, artfully dotted with details about the cut and fabric of her gowns, the food on her table, and the horribly wacky rules of life at Versailles.
I saw the movie, and liked it, but it doesn't bear much resemblance to the book.
If you like this, try Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (a contemporary of Marie), and To the Scaffold: The Life of Marie Antoinette. (And then visit Versailles, the Petit Trianon, and the Conciergerie). Also, try Frasier's The Wives of Henry VIII."
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