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A Well Told Biography
A sympathetic rendering of the Scapegoat of Versailles
Her story is still compelling more than 200 years later
Mystery: how did the book and the film EVER get connected?
Fantastic trip Back In History!

Marie Antoinette: The Journey
Antonia Fraser
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0307277747
Release Date: 2006-09-12

Amazon.com

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 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. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

France's iconic queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous "Let them eat cake," was alternately revered and reviled during her lifetime. For centuries since, she has been the object of debate, speculation, and the fascination so often accorded illustrious figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted child was thrust onto the royal stage and commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in European history. Antonia Fraser's lavish and engaging portrait excites compassion and regard for all aspects of the queen, immersing the reader not only in the coming-of-age of a graceful woman, but in the culture of an unparalleled time and place.

Customer Reviews:

A Well Told Biography.......2007-06-16

Ms. Fraser is a well known author of historical biographies. She does her research and manages to be fair in all things when it comes to delving in past lives that have touched the world. Her attempt at penning Marie Antoinette's story is well done, fair, and shows the world a different young woman that is often portrayed in historical films.

Beginning at the young archduchess start in life to her horrid end, we travel beside this young woman, learning what she had to endure and seeing her in a way not always portrayed. With plenty of historic facts, color pictures the author has penned a fair biography that will give the reader insight into a much misunderstood woman. This is one book I highly recommend.

A sympathetic rendering of the Scapegoat of Versailles.......2007-06-14

One of the principal themes throughout this book is what little control Marie Antoinette actually had over her own life. Marie Antoinette was a pawn on her mother's dynastic chessboard, reacting to, rather than creating, the circumstances of her tragic life. While Marie Antoinette had her share of personal flaws like the rest of us, she was in no way the Jezebel that legend and libel has made her out to be. Although Antonia Fraser tried to remain objective ("without passion," to use her own words) throughout her biography of Marie Antoinette, the historical facts and probable scenarios she presents to us cannot help but inspire compassion for this maligned woman. Regardless of her personal flaws and lack of preparedness for her role as Queen of France, Marie Antoinette did not deserve her brutal fate, i.e., the dehumanizing treatment leading up to the guillotine.

Emperor Francis I was about to leave for a long trip when he suddenly felt the urge to turn back and embrace his youngest daughter, Maria Antonia. He never returned from this trip (I think he died of food poisoning), but it was almost as if he had a premonition of the future Queen of France's cruel fate and looked upon his daughter with sympathy and love (yet with the same powerlessness that marked the life of Marie Antoinette).

Marie Antoinette has been unjustly referred to as unintelligent. I don't think that there was anything lacking in her mental facilities; however, Marie Antoinette's formal education was sporadic and incomplete, in part because her favorite governness was not much of a task master and never required her pupil to concentrate for sustained periods of time. When Marie Antoinette was put on trial (and here we see a kangeroo court if ever there was one), she responded with great mental acumen, to the point where she shocked the courtroom with her wit and self-possession. The only time she was truly fazed was when she was falsely accused of incest. After her initial shock that nothing was sacred to her accusers/no accusation was too low, Marie Antoinette responded, "I speak to all the mothers in the courtroom." This must have really hurt Marie Antoinette as motherhood was something she excelled in. If politics was not her passion or forte, child rearing was.

The real faults of Marie Antoinette were over-spending, gambling, and partying to excess. However, once Marie Antoinette became a mother, the partying winded down. Furthermore, we have to keep in mind that she was a teenager and in her very early twenties when she committed most of her follies. If she was a spendthrift, she was in good company: the whole court of Versailles lived lavishly. Marie Antoinette replaced her gambling habit with a new interest: she starred in private theatrical performances (where she most often played shepardesses or milkmaids, not lofty royals or goddesses). Antonia Fraser argues that Marie Antoinette's over-spending and partying were reactions to her actual lack of power, seven years of an unconsummated marriage, and the extreme rules of etiquette of the French court. As for her reputed licentiousness, Ms. Fraser believes that Marie Antoinette, the product of the rigid Maria Theresa and Roman Catholicism, was comparably chaste.

Antonia Fraser ends her book by tracing the history of scapegoats. From Israel to Versailles, people have wanted a target. In ancient Israel, goats were used, but during the French Revolution, a human being was used to blame for the sins and tribulations of a nation. Marie Antoinette was villified and scapegoated in a horrific way that pushed her beyond her limits. Even her husband was treated with some dignity before meeting his fate at the guillotine.

Oh, if you learn nothing more from reading Ms. Fraser's biography than this--Marie Antoinette never said, "Let them eat cake." Apparently, the etymology of this infamous remark can be traced to a queen who lived 200 years before Marie Antoinette. (And that queen may have never said this callous remark either---that just shows you the disturbing power of propaganda. If Marie Antoinette was the victim of anything, it was bad P.R. and her powerlessness to do anything about it.)

Her story is still compelling more than 200 years later.......2007-06-01

Antonia Fraser's well-researched work details the known facts in the life of Marie Antoinette - from her grand childhood as the daughter of an empress, to her marriage to Louis XVI and her life as France's queen, to her tragic and ultimate downfall with the start of the French Revolution.

Although I would recommend it to history fans, the book took me longer to complete than a book of this size normally would, partly because there was simply so much information to digest. I was also occasionally bored with the more political details. However, I find it amazing that we do know so much about Marie Antoinette and these events that occurred more than 200 years ago.

Compared with 'Abundance,' a work of historical fiction published in 2006 by Sena Jeter Naslund which complements this one fairly well, Fraser's Marie Antoinette is a more sympathetic character. In a rather stark contrast to popular opinion, both of her contemporaries and her reputation persisting through history, she is painted very nearly as an innocent victim of circumstance. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between.

Mystery: how did the book and the film EVER get connected?.......2007-05-21

I have to confess to seeing the film version with Kirsten Dunst first. And was utterly disgusted. I had some vague hope that because it was linked to this book, it would make at least a small stab at being historically correct.

I am amazed Antonia Fraser allowed this project to be associated with her name. The author is a fully fledged and respected historian. She has written well thought of works on King Henry VIII and his wives, Mary Queen of Scots and other great historical lives and times. She is always extremely careful with the veracity and accuracy of her research. This book, for example, is always at pains to point out whether or not some aspect of court life or Marie Antoinette's behaviour is supported by 'real' evidence, either through primary or secondary texts. Where at all possible she uses writings from the Queen's contemporaries, but always with warnings to their personal agendas for the reader. More usually she compares a number of sources about a particular factoid or event. This does make for fairly dry reading, but that said, I polished this book off in 2 days. All 500 odd pages (there is then an additional 100 plus pages of notes and index).

My usual source for historical information is the sort of historical novels by the likes of Phillipa Gregory (who often cites Antonia Fraser for background in her research). Gregory is the one to turn to for a reconstruction or imaginative creation of a character from 'between the lines' of a book like Fraser's.

Antonia Fraser is an established author and respected historian. She is married to the playwright Harold Pinter. The Queen of England loves her. I don't understand the need to court the Coppolas at all, except perhaps to make some money by association with the film. I guess it DID work, I'd have to grudgingly admit, because the film was so darned awful, and left the viewer bereft of any feeling for the times or the life of this tragic Queen. So, yes, I folded and bought the book, almost immediately.

I do not read a lot of non-fiction usually. When I do, its in a kind of 'pick it up and drop it' fashion while I get on with the latest novel. The fact that I consumed this one in a couple of days speaks of the author's skill as a writer. I emerged knowing a lot more about the Queen, her origins, the life of politics she resisted and was perhaps incapable of. Fraser presents the facts. She acknowledges the sources and comments on their own agendas. She leaves the reader to make judgements about the morality or otherwise, the justice or otherwise of the Queen's fate (and the fate of her husband and children).

Her work is to be applauded.

Fantastic trip Back In History!.......2007-05-13

I saw the movie first,was not impressed by it and it did not give me a different opinion of Marie than what I was taught in grade school--including that she did say the famous, "Let Them Eat Cake." Looked it up the book, ordered it and read it in three days. It is an incrediable read for anyone that loves history and all it's details. It read as if her life happened just yesterday. Incrediable detail and research. It gave me a complete different view of Marie. She became Queen but what did that really give her? It cost her life and the life of her husband and son. The real story is NOTHING like they taught us in America when I was in grade school in the 70's. Thanks to this author for all her hard work and telling the real story. I have much respect for Marie and all she indured with the true grace of a Queen. Once again, a fantastic read for history buffs like me.

Gambling Houses: The Eight Quarter Journey to Overcome the Emotional, Mental and Physical Pain of Default and Foreclosure

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Gambling Houses: The Eight Quarter Journey to Overcome the Emotional, Mental and Physical Pain of Default and Foreclosure
Antoinette Marie Antone
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1425994989

Konnichiwa, Nippon: Furansu butsuri gakusha no Japonisumu hakken

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Konnichiwa, Nippon: Furansu butsuri gakusha no Japonisumu hakken
Antoinette Marie Dubois
Manufacturer: PHP Kenkyujo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 4569526160

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