The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon

by Colin Jones

Book Overview

There can be few more mesmerising historical narratives than the story of how the dazzlingly confident and secure monarchy Louis XIV, 'the Sun King', left to his successors in 1715 became the discredited, debt-ridden failure toppled by Revolution in1789. The further story of the bloody unravelling of the Revolution until its seizure by Napoleon is equally astounding.

Colin Jones' brilliant new book is the first in 40 years to describe the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140130934
• ISBN13: 9780140130935
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 688 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Buy it!

I've only recently begun reading about post Louis XIV and early Revolutionary France. This book is a great starting off point & is also very well-written, with both wit and gravitas. It is a fascinating and complex period and subject, and Professor Jones brings it lucidly to life. The bibliography and notes are extensive and whetted my appetite for more.

If your assigned this for a class:

Got this in class. Its NOT an easy read. Its not horrible, its just that he throws in all the facts of all the political intrigues, including things that ended in political dead ends.... and you find your self getting bogged up in details that make it harder to follow the story line. When he's discussing scandals etc, the book gets much much easier to read and enjoyable. Its pretty dense, in other words. But as assigned books go, not bad. I learned alot about pre revolutionary France reading this, and I had no interest in the subject when I signed up for the course (I was just fulfilling a requirement).

Fashion reigns supreme

Colin Jones's The Great Nation is history of the grand narrative type. In one long roller-coaster ride, its takes the reader from the death of Louis XIV to the seizure of power by Napoleon in 1799. Jones's emphasis is on continuity, his theory that France remained a country centred around the glory and brilliance of its court and rulers. Within this theme, anecdotes and boudoir history are especially highlighted, making this generally fun to read while of course not avoiding more conventionally political or constitutional events. But Jones's version of the old regime and the revolution are very current, very fashionable, dwelling on court intrigue and the importance of an emerging `public sphere'. This makes for a certain kind of writing, which while amusing as a story - Jones obviously loves his subject, and has entertaining titles and chapters like `diamonds: not a queen's best friend', taking us to Versailles's gardens at night and then onto the vitriolic Paris pamphleteer's scene - is sometimes short on analysis. Students interested in, say, the monarchy's fiscal problems will have to look elsewhere for data. Jones's view is that old regime France's fragility had to do with court faction, dependence on foreign policy success, and a critical public opinion. Everyone is free to disagree.

A classic

A very insightful, well-organised and readable book. Covers all the main events of France's 18th century and covers them well. Will be appreciated by anyone with a grain of intelligence.