Makers of History Louis XIV. By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT (ILLUSTRATED) Paperback – 10 Jan. 2019

This an ideal cmpanion piece to the TV Show "Versailles". However the author's use of language is now out of date, for he clalms the King was a "very gay man and he loved to have a gay time", I think meant soething different at the time of publication.

This book has given me a more in depth insight into louis the fourteenth than I had before. Its is very easy to read with more information than I expected about life at the French court and the lengths the king went to in order to get his own way

If you wish to know more about the man and his achievements, then this is the book you are looking for. The book gives an excellent introduction to anyone who wished to understand the complex politics, battles and personalities of Louis' time.

Really badly written. Do not buy.

A very interesting and exciting account of its time.

Although the format is somewhat unusual I found this book informative and interesting. I actually enjoyed the short sections of each chapter, they usually provided enough detail to give a good picture of what was going on. A few times I was lost on whom was actually being discussed but it usually became clear. Other times I longed for more info and turned to the internet (thanks Wikipedia). However, given the length of time this story covers I felt the author did an excellent job of moving things along while covering all the important details and highlights of such a long reign.

I had started reading Thomas Carlyle's "The French Revolution" but realized I needed to go back a bit to understand what brought the revolution on. Based on a friends recommendation I went back to Louis XIV. This was a very well written book, there are so many players in the french court but I was able to keep them all straight with the way it was explained. I have since read Duc Saint-Simones memoir on the court of Louis XIV and this book has turned out to be very beneficial.

The book didn't talk much about Mazarin's successor or Marquis de Louvis and his role as minister of war. It really focused on the details of the blood line and the politics, which made it look as if no one was concerned about the matters these men handles. They would have had an easier time proving his reign was lousy if the author included this information in detail.

This is exactly what I was looking for. We are visiting Europe next year and I wanted a book that gave me a little bit of history on Louis XIV. The book was easy to read and to understand with great details about the life and history of Louis XIV and his parents. I was pleasantly surprised.