Marie-Antoinette

The Making of a French Queen

De: John Hardman

Narrado por: Jonathan Cowley

A new look which fundamentally overturns our understanding of this famously "out of touch" queen

Who was the real Marie-Antoinette? She was mistrusted and reviled in her own time, and today she is portrayed as a lightweight incapable of understanding the events that engulfed her. In this new account, John Hardman redresses the balance and sheds fresh light on Marie-Antoinette's story.

Hardman shows how Marie-Antoinette played a significant but misunderstood role in the crisis of the monarchy. Drawing on new sources, he describes how, from the outset, Marie-Antoinette refused to prioritize the aggressive foreign policy of her mother, Maria-Theresa, bravely took over the helm from Louis XVI after the collapse of his morale, and, when revolution broke out, listened to the Third Estate and worked closely with repentant radicals to give the constitutional monarchy a fighting chance. For the first time, Hardman demonstrates exactly what influence Marie-Antoinette had and when and how she exerted it.

©2019 John Hardman (P)2019 Tantor

More history than biography

This book focuses mostly on Marie-Antoinette’s development as a politician leading up to and during the French Revolution, rather than on her life as a woman and a mother. The transitions from one subject to another were lacking, and the book often presented information in great detail without a lot of analysis. It’s a good resource for a scholar, but less interesting for a lay person.

Narration & Multiplicity of Facts a Trial

Narrator's choppy but rapid cadence -- no commas, no periods, no paragraphs -- made for difficult beginning, but improved a lot. Too many names and events -- too little analysis -- in beginning but strong finish.

I didn't enjoy the book and won't finish it.

I am not judging the accuracy of the book, but its organization. I feel the book is a collection and disgorgement of infomation, without the flow I expected. Too often the content jumped around in time period, and I lost track. I could not stay interested.