IMO, Pro-Marie Antoinette without being over the top, Desmond Seward blends the woman with the budding statesman. He makes very clear how it came about that Marie Antoinette faced the opprobrium of the French nobility, the bourgeosie, and the commoner. Seward examines the targeted attacks led by an envious and resentful nobility, how it escalated in its viciousness over time, and how it was used to feed the public frenzy. He doesn't spare the queen any criticism but his defense of her compared to some of the inexcuseable actions of others is clear. Indeed, in his foreward Seward states it is the men closest to her that failed her miserably leaving her to "cope with appalling situations in which she should never have been placed". So far, this is the most feminist biography of Marie Antoinette that I've read.
Not as lyrical in style as Erickson's biography, still Seward explains more clearly and simply the political forces that swept out the monarchy and installed in its place the republic.
Not as lyrical in style as Erickson's biography, still Seward explains more clearly and simply the political forces that swept out the monarchy and installed in its place the republic.
