The Life of Louis XVI

“In a work which must currently rank as the definitive contribution to our understanding of Louis XVI as a man and a monarch, Hardman displays a quite extraordinary grasp of sources relating to the court and to the high politics of the ancien régime.”—P.M. Jones, English Historical Review

"The author’s triumph . . . is his admirable balance in presenting the king’s successful traits and actions along with his unsatisfactory steps and misjudgments. . . . An important contribution to the writing and study of French history."—Brad Hooper, Booklist

"Sympathetic . . . deeply moving . . . dramatic. . . . This is biography at its finest, by one of the greatest authorities on the subject."—Chronicles

"Insightful, engaging and well written, The Life of Louis XVI will remain an indispensable source for scholars of the Old Regime and the Revolution for years to come."—Michael P. Fitzsimmons, H-France Review

"This is the product of a lifetime's research and writing on late eighteenth-century France by one of the foremost scholars of the era. Original, gripping and authoritative, it is the best biography in any language of Louis XVI, and a significant contribution to the history of the French Revolution."—Munro Price, author of The Perilous Crown: France Between Revolutions

"John Hardman has written a highly readable, well-paced biography of Louis XVI which draws on the most recent scholarship on French kingship and court politics. He shows sensitivity and sympathy for a monarch who was not blind to what was happening around him but who felt increasingly trapped by forces he could not control."—Alan Forrest, author of Napoleon: Life, Legacy, and Image

"This new life of Louis XVI, by the world’s leading authority, not only tells all the good stories with considerable verve, it also offers insightful analyses of the politics of this tragic life that began in the palace of Versailles and ended on the scaffold of the Revolution. It is simply the most authoritative biography of Louis XVI ever written."—Peter Campbell, former professor of French History, University of Versailles