There can be few more mesmerizing historical narratives than the story of how the confident monarchy left by Louis XIV in 1715 became the discredited failure toppled by revolution in 1789. This brilliant new book is the first in forty years to describe the whole period, from the last days of the “Sun King” to the wars of Napoleon. In a groundbreaking work of scholarship, Colin Jones argues that, contrary to popular belief, the house of Bourbon’s downfall was hardly a foregone conclusion. Producing an illuminating account of a society torn apart from within, he recounts the saga of how a dynamic French society—the heart of the Enlightenment—fell prey to the debt and humiliation of its wars against Britain.
a) The Mythic Present of the Sun King
c) Princes, Dukes and Magistrates: A New Fronde?
d) The Financial and Economic Context of the Regency
e) A Scottish Wizard in a Land of Troubles
f) The Childhood of Louis XV: Six Funerals and a Wedding
d) The King’s Information: News, Views, Secrets, Lies
b) The Balance of Power and the Globalization of Warfare
d) Vital Signs in Rural France
e) Health and Wealth by Stealth
a) The Moment of the Encyclopédie
c) Civilised Man, Natural Woman
d) Re-enchanting a Disenchanted World
e) The Contested Politics of the Public Sphere
b) Things Fall Apart: The Seven Years War
c) Choiseulian Scapegoats: Dévots and Jesuits
e) Languages of Patriotism: The Judges Judged
f) From the Brittany Affair to the Maupeou Revolution
a) Diamonds: Not a Queen’s Best Friend
b) The Appearance of Luxury and the Luxury of Appearances
c) Silent Revolution in an Age of Noise
d) The Elusive Public: Financial and Institutional Reform
a) Imagining the Nation, Fearing the Worst
c) The Task of Political Architecture
b) Louis Capet Bows Out, Terror Bows In
c) The Glacial Logic of Republican Unity
d) Killing Robespierre, Ending Terror
c) Economic Fortunes and Misfortunes
d) Bourgeois Revolutionaries …
Conclusion: The Brumaire Leviathan and La Grande Nation