"Admirable for its primary political research—but lacking the warmth, color, and human dimensions of Carolly Erickson's To the Scaffold (1991), a Marie Antoinette biography offering a fuller, more balanced, and sympathetic picture of Louis and his court. (Twenty-four illustrations.)"
In a political, impersonal, and defensive biography, Hardman (a retired lecturer in modern history at the Univ. of Edinburgh) claims that Louis XVI, reputedly ``stupid, lazy, and impassive,'' was merely reticent, timid, ill-advised, lonely, and misunderstood- -and could have been called ``Louis the Silent.'' Born into a sprawling, extravagant, and unpopular monarchy, orphaned at age 11, Louis—private, shy, immature, and the least favored and least prepared heir to the throne—ascended to his kingship at age 19, when his grandfather died.
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