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Desmond Seward
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Marie Antoinette Paperback – December 8, 2022

by Desmond Seward (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 52 ratings
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Giddy and extravagant, Marie Antoinette came to France as a child-bride from Austria, France’s traditional enemy.

But the hatred she aroused at Versailles seems out of proportion to her faults, which were mostly those of an inexperienced girl suddenly presiding as queen over the most formal and splendid court in Europe. It was not the sans-culottes who first bitterly called her ‘L’Autrichienne’ or accused her of every kind of vice, including perverted sexual tastes: the campaign of vilification and scurrilous ballads originated among the nobility. Most persistent of all the brilliant and deadly slanders aimed at her throughout her life in France was the rumour that she said of the starving peasantry: ‘Let them eat cake’.

Posterity has seen her as foolish, immoral and devious, as a meddler in politics who unduly influenced her husband, the amiable and incompetent Louis XVI. Desmond Seward, re-examining memoirs and correspondence, finds a different Marie Antoinette: a strong-minded, religious, devotedly maternal woman, surrounded by enemies, forced by her husband’s lethargy to intrigue as best she could to save the monarchy for her son. She failed: but could any woman have done better in the chaotic onrush of events in Revolutionary France?

This new biography tells the fascinating drama of Marie Antoinette’s life, from the pleasure-filled early years at the Petit Trianon, to the terror and humiliation of her imprisonment with her family, and the dignity with which she faced death.

Desmond Seward is a British popular historian, best known for The Hundred Years War, never out of print since 1978, The Monks of War, The Wars of the Roses and Richard III - all republished by the Folio Society. His latest is The Demon's Brood, a history of the Plantagenet kings in one short volume.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    248 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    December 8, 2022
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.56 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-13
    979-8367430813
  6. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BPGGGPSN
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (December 8, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8367430813
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.56 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 52 ratings

About the author

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Desmond Seward

Desmond Seward

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Desmond Seward is a British popular historian, best known for The Hundred Years War, never out of print since 1978, The Monks of War, The Wars of the Roses and Richard III - all republished by the Folio Society. His latest is The Demon's Brood, a history of the Plantagenet kings in one short volume.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
52 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

R. Gorey
4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling and frightening
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2005
Verified Purchase
Desmond Seward's biography of Marie Antoinette--like the larger volume on the unfortunate Queen written by Antonia Fraser--attempts a balance in the appraisal of this complicated, much reviled figure. Seward's book acknowledges Marie's faults (without whitewashing her frivolity and inexperience) while managing to show the squalid, terrifying ordeal her last years became. One comes away with the sense that Marie Antoinette was doomed from the beginning, and that her many social and political shortcomings prevented her from manipulating an admittedly unmanageable situation. I doubt if any biography can be completely subjective, but I never got the feeling that Seward was misstating facts or pleading Marie's case: he's clearly sympathetic to her, but who wouldn't be, considering the series of humilations and punishments to which she was subject? Reading the book put me in mind to seek other biographies of Marie Antoinette, though I doubt they'd read in such a brisk, storybook manner. I thought this was a fine job of making history come alive, and while the story was at times grotesque, there's a sense here of a life lived in extremes that made the book as fascinating as it was horrifying. If Marie Antoinette was a shallow and sometimes thoughtless spendthrift, she was also, in the end, a tragic figure, a devoted mother, and a ghastly example of what happens when the mighty finally fall.
9 people found this helpful
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Blaze
4.0 out of 5 stars Skillfully blends the woman with the budding statesman...
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2010
Pro-Marie Antoinette without being over the top, this biography tells the perennially fascinating drama of Marie Antionette's life, from the pleasure-filled early years at the Petit Trianon, to the terror and humiliation of her imprisonment with her family, and the dignity with which she faces death. Desmond Seward explores the extreme of hatred of the French nobility, the bourgeosie, and the commoner for their queen, by detailing the targeted attacks led by an envious and resentful nobility, how it escalated in viciousness over time, and how it was used to feed the public frenzy. He doesn't spare the queen any criticism but his defense of her compared to some of the inexcuseable actions of others is clear. Indeed, in his foreward Seward states it is the men closest to her that failed her miserably leaving her to "cope with appalling situations in which she should never have been placed". So far, this is the most feminist biography of Marie Antoinette that I've read.

Not as lyrical in style as Erickson's biography, still Seward explains more clearly and simply the political forces that swept out the monarchy and installed in its place the republic.
3 people found this helpful
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Michael J. Russell
4.0 out of 5 stars Still one of the best books on Marie Antoinette!
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2006
Desmond Seward's "Marie Antoinette" is one of the best biographies of the queen and better by far than Fraser's or Lever's popular works. Seward is a careful and deliberate historian, not hiding her failings but not twisting them to suit a romantic fairy tale or contemporary bias. He is one of the few historians not afraid to discuss the development of her spiritual life, especially after the death of her oldest son. He dismisses the rumors of an affair with Count Fersen as highly unlikely and not in accord with contemporary sources or with the queen's state of mind and moral habits. The build up to her final tragic hours is so well done that one is emotionally drained by glimpsing her sorrow. I wish this book had a higher profile because it really is one of the best.
8 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Susan Shepherd
5.0 out of 5 stars truth finally told
Reviewed in Canada on February 6, 2024
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A veryworthy and historical autobiography of a very maligned woman and Queen who didn’t deserve her grisly fate..I appreciated knowing the events leading uptothe Revolution… harrowing times for sure…
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Lara
5.0 out of 5 stars Very readable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2024
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Interesting book and mostly sympathetic to Marie, who comes across as far better at the job than her husband was. Made me look into reading more about the woman.
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crownorm
3.0 out of 5 stars Not at all original.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 11, 2024
Verified Purchase
I was looking for a bit of an original.
This promised it would be, and in the early parts seemed to be.
However, it was not long before the flowery language and an expected knowledge of the reader crept in. Much like all the others.
Names of people and places frequently being quoted in the story but not previously mentioned became the norm.
From time to time the writing seemed to be a bit more original and enjoyable.
Anyway, I got half way through.
Sorry Desmond.
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sylvianrhodes
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2020
Verified Purchase
Excellent value for money. Thank you!
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