Louis XIV: The Other Side of the Sun

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Biography of the Sun King
Review: After visiting Versailles, I had searched in vain for a "good" biography on Louis XIV, King of France. I saw this book in the public library and gave it a try, not expecting much after the several other newer biographies I had tried and yet had been so disappointed in. Amazingly, this turned out to be a top notch biography of the man who dominated European culture for the last fifty years of the seventeenth century. The author clearly demonstrates a detailed understanding of the time period and spends most of his time on Louis, the man. He develops the section on his childhood to foreshadow later events in his life, making it a clear that a lack of affection and security as a child had major reprecussions on the adult years of his life. His marriage and his affairs are chronicled well as well as his spiritual life. Most interesting is the author's knowledge of France during this time period and the horrible conditions that both the rich and the poor lived under. Sanitation was clearly not a priority and the medical practices of the time leave you horrified. The medical history of Louis XIV is presented in such a way that you believe that it would have been better never to have seen a "doctor", let alone suffer under their care. I would recommend this biography highly. Even if it is out of print, second hand copies are not difficult to find and the reader will be rewarded with an excellent study of a complicated man and his times.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Biography of the Sun King
Review: After visiting Versailles, I had searched in vain for a "good" biography on Louis XIV, King of France. I saw this book in the public library and gave it a try, not expecting much after the several other newer biographies I had tried and yet had been so disappointed in. Amazingly, this turned out to be a top notch biography of the man who dominated European culture for the last fifty years of the seventeenth century. The author clearly demonstrates a detailed understanding of the time period and spends most of his time on Louis, the man. He develops the section on his childhood to foreshadow later events in his life, making it a clear that a lack of affection and security as a child had major reprecussions on the adult years of his life. His marriage and his affairs are chronicled well as well as his spiritual life. Most interesting is the author's knowledge of France during this time period and the horrible conditions that both the rich and the poor lived under. Sanitation was clearly not a priority and the medical practices of the time leave you horrified. The medical history of Louis XIV is presented in such a way that you believe that it would have been better never to have seen a "doctor", let alone suffer under their care. I would recommend this biography highly. Even if it is out of print, second hand copies are not difficult to find and the reader will be rewarded with an excellent study of a complicated man and his times.