false 153529 9 When Madame de Pompadour became the mistress of Louis XV, no one expected her to retain his affections for long. A member of the bourgeoisie rather than an aristocrat, she was physically too cold for the carnal Bourbon king, and had so many enemies that she could not travel publicly without risking a pelting of mud and stones. History has loved her little better.Nancy Mitford's delightfully candid biography re-creates the spirit of eighteenth-century Versailles with its love of pleasure and treachery. We learn that the Queen was a "bore," the Dauphin a "prig," and see France increasingly overcome with class conflict. With a fiction writer's felicity, Mitford restores the royal mistress and celebrates her as a survivor, unsurpassed in "the art of living," who reigned as the most powerful woman in France for nearly twenty years. 1756305 1954 Madame de Pompadour (New York Review Books Classics) total:99|5:21|4:42|3:28|2:7|1:1| 99 372 190 21 3 0 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Mar 13 17:49:53 -0700 2007 Sat Mar 17 08:48:15 -0700 2007
This is definitely like learning history from a gossipy old aunt and although she discusses the Seven Years War, there's much more about court life at Versailles in the time of Louis XV than political wrangling.

Broader brush strokes than modern biograp...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Sep 25 18:35:24 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 26 08:59:36 -0700 2008 Talleyrand...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 12 14:12:42 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 14:15:30 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Dec 24 10:57:53 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 24 10:58:39 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Fri Mar 27 11:20:15 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 11:20:52 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Feb 15 12:15:55 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 12:20:43 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Apr 04 15:01:07 -0700 2007 Wed Apr 04 15:01:07 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Mar 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Feb 25 17:34:22 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 20 08:06:01 -0700 2009 1 2 0 false false Tue Jul 03 07:10:46 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 12 07:32:02 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jul 15 13:47:24 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 13:51:29 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Apr 21 09:20:56 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 19 07:10:46 -0800 2007 4 0 false false Sat May 31 16:40:03 -0700 2008 Mon May 26 11:23:06 -0700 2008 Sat May 31 16:40:03 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Fri Jul 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 08:24:48 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 19:59:22 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Sun Dec 16 07:26:39 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 16 07:26:39 -0800 2007 4 0 false false Mon Jul 16 22:30:31 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 16 22:31:56 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Tue Jan 29 09:30:15 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 29 09:31:05 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Fri Oct 12 05:52:38 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 22 05:29:54 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 12 05:51:55 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Mon Jun 23 18:22:59 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 18:23:13 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Aug 06 07:57:04 -0700 2007 Mon Dec 17 14:16:18 -0800 2007 4 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Wed Mar 26 01:05:57 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 26 01:06:22 -0700 2008