The book, "Louis XIV: A Royal Life," by Olivier Bernier, is a true historical guide to the life, reign, and love affairs of Louis XIV, the Sun King of France. The book actually begins telling of the night Louis was conceived at a hunting lodge. Bernier gives a true look at France's most famous king from his early childhood to his death in 1715 by gangrene in his leg. The Fronde, the wars against England, and the War for Spanish Succession are covered in depth by Bernier. This is the book for anyone interested in Louis XIV of French history

This book was published in the UK under the title of "imperial Mother, Royal Daugher". It is actually the correspondence between Marie Antoinette of France and her mother Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.

This book is interesting for a number of reasons. It somwhat suprising how well these women expressed themselves to each other in the mail. It also brings to light some of the contraditions of Marie Antoinette's position in France. She was exhorted by her mother to be a good frenchwoman, but in her heart to never forget that her first loyalty should always be to Austria and her.

Royal marriages in centuries past were made for political alliances and this always put the partner who went to a new country in a difficult position as far as loyalty went. Marie Antoinette's solution was to start lying or not telling her mother things. Unfortuntley for her, her mother had a household spy by the name of Mercey (who went to france with marie) to report back everything she omitted. These letters are also included.

You end up with a well rounded picture of a young lady in deep over her head. It's a world of pomp, pain and deception. This book is worth getting if only to see a completly different view of these people than you would get out of a formal biography....their life in their own words.

Olivier Bernier is a master of narrative and a flawlessly thorough scholar. A Frenchman who has lived in N. America most of his life, Bernier has many superb books to his credit that deal with the Ancien Regime and the 18th Century. But in this oeuvre he has probably outdone himself. In his animated but well documented account, Bernier takes us on a very bouncy ride,indeed! His narrative plunges the reader right in the thick of the turbulence in Paris during the Summer of 1789. Leading the reader along to the point where the Royal Family attempts its botched-up escape in 1791, Bernier, than loops back to the background of Louis XVI's reign, the disasterous influence of Marie Antoinette and the growing financial crisis that led to Necker's recall and the convocation of the Etats-Generaux...Bernier then seamlessly resumes his history with the ill-fated flight and capture of the Royal Family at Varennes, their humiliating return to Paris, the Constitution of 1791, the eventual abolition of the Monarchy and the deaths of the King & Queen. What Bernier has essentially done is present his history of events in a conceptual order rather than a chronological one...Still, he has wovern the fabric of his narrative so masterfully that there is scarcely a snag! The novice and the scholar will be enriched by this book. In it, Bernier also says things that were always evident, but that made historians uncomfortable. He asserts, with good reason, that much of the extremes of the Revolution that lead to the end of the Monarchy, could have been avoided if Marie Antoinette and her circle had been noticeably more welcoming to the deputies of the National Assmbly and their wives by recieving them socially and allowing the women of the rising third estate positions at court...Bernier's authority is only matched by his talents as writer... Certainly a rare and valuable combination!

In the year 1800 most of the world's population scratched out a living in the countryside while a few merchants in the cities hawked their wares in open-air market stalls. The nobles, on the other hand, led lives of opulent leisure. This scenario had not changed from the days of their ancestors. Yet, there were unmistakable signs that all this would soon change forever. The seeds of republicanism were spreading in Europe while the United States was proving to the world the feasibility of a government of, by and for the people. France and England had established global empire-building strategies. Thus, the year 1800 saw the world suddenly enmeshed in a web of mercantilism, war, and political intrigue. In was in such an atmosphere that this pivotal moment in world history heralded the dawn of the modern era.

In this compelling volume renowned historian Olivier Bernier provides us with a riveting chronicle of that time, so full of historical lessons for us as we embark upon the new millennium. The scope of the book is truly global covering Europe's bloodstained landscape, the nascent United States, the Spanish and Portuguese dominions of Central and South America, the Gold Coast of Africa, British India and the Forbidden City of China. This journey around the world provides a finely textured portrait of civilisation at the dawn of the modern era while shedding new light on the revolutionary trends that were taking shape in the arts, architecture, science, and philosophy.

Offering a spellbinding account of one of the most momentous chapters in the story of civilization, The World in 1800 makes irresistible reading for scholars and history buffs alike.

Educated in Paris, at Harvard and at New York University, Olivier Bernier is the author of several books on history. He has also taught art history and is widely acclaimed for his lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

This book is very interesting: in a little over 400 pages, the author attempts to give a world overview of the years around 1800, showing the reader how things developed. I feel that he has been rather successful in his attempt, with some minor quibbles. He covers Western Europe and the US well, but most folks know most of what he retells. He has his heroes (such as Jefferson), and his non-heroes (such as John Adams), and while I don't necessarily agree with a lot of what he says about some of these people, he has his right to his opinion. When it comes to Central and South America, Asia and Africa, he gets into giving information about which I'm not necessarily familiar, and that's where I really enjoyed reading this book: learning new things. He seems to have a fixation about slavery, for he refers to it almost constantly, but since it was a very prevalent institutiuon diring that era, he has the right to do so. All in all, this is a successful book, and it will inform the general reader about many new and different aspects of history in odd parts of the world.

I found "The World in 1800" to be a refreshingly new approach to history writing. Instead of focusing on one event or one geographical area, Bernier chooses to explore the entire world in and around the year 1800. Why 1800? Because, as Bernier explains it, that was when the world as WE know it was born. The birth of democracy and a giant step towards globalism were the most obvious things. As far as the structure of the book is concerned, the first part deals with events in Europe, especially the conquest of Europe by France. The second part deals primarily with the newly born United States, and the problems they dealt with, especially when it came to relations with both England and France who were at the time locked in an unwinnable war. Bernier also goes on to cover South America and Asia, though in much less detail. The only complaint I have is that Bernier includes a section on Africa.....which is only 20 pages long. Token? Perhaps. But given that so much of the world's economy was intertwined with the slave trade originating out of Africa, surely there would have been more to write about the "mysterious" continent. Overall, the book is highly readable, giving more than just bland dates, names, and locations. Bernier gives us a look at how individuals lived, and even gives the reader an idea of how they might have lived had they been born in the late 18th century. Food, fashion, society, architecture, it's all there.

I thought this to be a well written book, and very easy to read. Having read some prior works on Louis XV (as well as Madame de Pompadour), I thought that the portrayal was overly flattering. One would have thought that Louis XV was the greatest King of France, and by the end of the book, one feels that truly all the disasters that happened or would befall the monarchy were someone else's fault.

An interesting biography of Lafayette, the young French nobleman who served with Washington during the American Revolution and then went back to France to help usher in the French Revolution. A long life spent extolling the virtues of liberty, Lafayette is portrayed in the book as a generous man who seeked fame only. When presented with a chance to actually take action and change the course of history, he would retreat and allow others to make the decisive actions of the time.

The author is not particularly kind to the Lafayette and does not hestiate to point out his flaws. However, the writing is well done. The only major problem I have with the book regards referring to many major historical characters without giving us some background before they are introduced. For example, many of the leaders of the French Revolution are referred to without any explanation of their politics. The author assumed a fairly wide understanding of the various personalities. I would have preferred a little more exposition.