“Louis XIV (European History in Perspective)”, by David J. Sturdy, edited by Jeremy Black

222 pages, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN-13: 978-0312214289

It turns out that there was more to the Sun King than Versailles, wars, wigs and a killer set of legs (according to him). David J. Sturdy’s Louis XIV is part of a larger academic series of books called European History in Perspective, and is really meant for the serious scholar or the history geek extraordinaire, designed as it is to provide a concise study of the defining aspects of the reign of Louis XIV: the nature of French monarchy, methods of government, the King’s relationship to his subjects and to the church, the organization of cultural life and France’s relations with the rest of Europe, are all considered. Sturdy relates Louis and his regime to the longer-term movements of French history and to some of the wider historical forces at work in 17^th Century Europe. He raises past and present historiographical controversies surrounding Louis XIV and indicates some of the major problems in interpretation which still confront historians. All-in-all, Sturdy manages to penetrate beneath the well-known events, personalities and images of the reign to gain an understanding of the historical forces and realities with which the Sun King and France had to contend; he presents a carefully organized and lucid account of the defining aspects of the reign, although, it must be said, in a rather dry and academic style that should appeal to the serious student of France, but which may turn off the more casual reader.