LOUIS XIV

A study of the reign rather than the man, an attempt to give the picture of an ""effective monarchy in modern civilization."" To the advocate of monarchy, this period provides a good text in absolutism. The book falls into four sections:- his minority; the tightening of foreign policy, of the army, of finance, under his ministers; the wars of aggression; his personal rule and the throttle role. Paralleling this outer life is the personal life, his relations with his mistresses, and too little of the man himself, other than as the figurehead of his accomplishments. The disastrous results of his rule are glossed over; even such important things as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes is seen only as a political blunder, not as a violation of liberty. A one-sided book, pompous, stentorian and stilted in the telling.