false 17157 31 In the past, Antonia Fraser's bestselling histories and biographies have focused on people and events in her native England, from <I>Mary Queen of Scots</I> to <I>Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot</I>. Now she crosses the Channel to limn the life of France's unhappiest queen, bringing along her gift for fluent storytelling, vivid characterization, and evocative historical background. Marie Antoinette (1755-93) emerges in Fraser's sympathetic portrait as a goodhearted girl woefully undereducated and poorly prepared for the dynastic political intrigues into which she was thrust at age 14, when her mother, Empress Maria Theresa, married her off to the future Louis XVI to further Austria's interests in France. Far from being the licentious monster later depicted by the radicals who sent her to the guillotine at the height of the French Revolution, young Marie Antoinette was quite prudish, as well as thoroughly humiliated by her husband's widely known failure to have complete intercourse with her for seven long years (the gory details were reported to any number of concerned royal parties, including her mother and brother). She compensated by spending lavishly on clothes and palaces, but Fraser points out that this hardly made her unique among 18th-century royalty, and in any case the causes of the Revolution went far beyond one woman's frivolities. The moving final chapters show Marie Antoinette gaining in dignity and courage as the Revolution stripped her of everything, subjected her to horrific brutalities (a mob paraded the head of her closest female friend on a pike below her window), and eventually took her life. Fraser makes no attempt to hide the queen's shortcomings, in particular her poor political skills, but focuses on her personal warmth and noble bearing during her final ordeal. It's another fine piece of popular historical biography to add to Fraser's already impressive bibliography. <I>--Wendy Smith</I> 1850916 book 2001 Marie Antoinette: The Journey total:1985|5:489|4:845|3:511|2:107|1:33| 1985 7605 3356 417 4 3 true false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 02 04:23:05 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 02 04:35:39 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 24 04:40:38 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 06:52:18 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 2 true false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Aug 28 12:00:05 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 28 12:04:18 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Mar 31 20:18:38 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 02 12:58:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Dec 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Oct 15 18:34:40 -0700 2008 Fri Dec 26 13:19:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Sep 01 13:06:05 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 16 08:59:29 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Mon Aug 17 13:54:22 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 14:01:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Jul 09 18:04:08 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 18:04:30 -0700 2009 Amazon.com Review
In the past, Antonia Fraser's bestselling histories and biographies have focused on people and events in her native England, from Mary Queen of Scots to Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot. Now she crosses the Channel to limn the life of France's unhappiest quee...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Mar 20 09:10:10 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 06 09:13:54 -0700 2007 I love Antonia Fraiser's writing style; she makes history fun. This book was very entertaining, easy reading.

I picked it up after visiting Versailles in March---it's the kind of place you want to know more about. I did also see Sofia Coppola's movie, based on this book. I have to ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 02 13:18:36 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 13:33:14 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Apr 16 11:33:01 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 16 11:53:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jul 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 11:43:28 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 08:31:47 -0700 2009
It took awhile to get through this book as it is VERY LONG, ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Dec 11 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 06:43:04 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 06:49:42 -0800 2008
The book gave a good overview of the events leading up to...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Sep 15 08:33:19 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 15 08:35:00 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sun Jun 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 23:41:39 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 15:10:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Nov 19 19:42:39 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 13:38:13 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Oct 21 07:37:25 -0700 2008 Tue Dec 30 12:47:50 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 true false Mon Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 18 11:09:26 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 25 20:07:02 -0700 2008
Marie Antoinette cannot be judged for what she might have done or what standards hindsight has assigned her. One can criticize Marie Antoinette for many things, but she fulfilled the obli...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Oct 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 25 11:47:26 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 10 16:26:37 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Feb 04 16:54:16 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 12 19:37:29 -0700 2008 Wed Feb 04 16:54:16 -0800 2009
I am very intrigued with this woman, because I see someone that could easily fit into the 21st century living in all the way back in the 18th.

She was frivilous, but you know that could only have been expected. She was ver...more...]]>