Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen: A New Approach, Exploring the Interrelationship Between the People of a Country and the Power of Its King - Paperback

by Pierre Goubert (Author)

Louis XIV is one of history's most notorious rulers. Ruling for three quarters of a century, the King of France had the longest reign in European history, and the effects of his rule would create the conditions that would lead to the French Revolution. Written by an authority on 17th century Europe, Pierre Goubert not only outlines the life the famous "Sun King." but the millions of subjects under his rule, and the effects his choices had on the them.

Praise for Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchman

" . . . It is safe to recommend the work as the best book available on the subject for the educated layman."--Kirkus Reviews

"This masterful work . . . should serve a generation of student and general readers as the essential introduction to the France of Louis XIV."--The American Historical Review

"In this field M. Goubert is a past master, and his subtle portrayal of the great social trends of the age deserves to be widely read."--Times Literary Supplement

Back Jacket

Between the scholars and the general public exists a real and ever-widening gulf. This book is an attempt to bridge that gulf. Many accepted beliefs about Louis XIV's reign, if not about the king himself, are ripe for reappraisal.

Author Biography

Pierre Goubert (1915-2012), renowned for his knowledge of seventeenth-century history and culture, was a member of a group of historians known as the Annales School. His works include Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen, The Course of French History, and The French Peasantry in the 17th Century.