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Citizen-king: The life of Louis Philippe
358 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1961
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 21, 2019
T. E. B. Howarth's 1961 life of Louis-Philippe is noteworthy for the erudition and wit common among good British biographers of that era. Howarth was fulsome in his praise of the King of the French, but not without a critical cast when appropriate. Readers interested in the period will find it worthwhile. It is a solid Four Star effort.
July 14, 2015
Definitely a difficult read for an unfamiliar mind, but quite good for the expert. At times it leaves too much unsaid and assumes the reader knows all those involved, and that leaves a great deal of the book as a number of names coming and going. The writing is not the best but pretty good.
I found this book lying hidden at a tiny bookstore in Italy, and just out of curiosity took it with me. I would guess it wasn't a success since I don't see any new editions or it being sold at considerable amount, so maybe there are better alternatives on this same topic—I don't really know. Still, I find it a solid book recounting the eventful life of the King of the French.
The most I liked about this is the perspective on living such a life, the difficulties of government, and the various memorable quotes from many historical figures.
By far the most well done section of the book is on Louis-Philippe's youth. I leave one quote from that period, when a young and idealistic Louis-Philippe has to escape the chaos of France after revolution and terror:
"Where I formerly saw through rose-coloured spectacles, everything now seems as black as pitch. I see liberty lost; I see the Convention totally destroying France through its neglect of all principle; I see civil war blazing; I see foreign armies descending from all sides on our happy country and I see no army of our own to oppose them."
I found this book lying hidden at a tiny bookstore in Italy, and just out of curiosity took it with me. I would guess it wasn't a success since I don't see any new editions or it being sold at considerable amount, so maybe there are better alternatives on this same topic—I don't really know. Still, I find it a solid book recounting the eventful life of the King of the French.
The most I liked about this is the perspective on living such a life, the difficulties of government, and the various memorable quotes from many historical figures.
By far the most well done section of the book is on Louis-Philippe's youth. I leave one quote from that period, when a young and idealistic Louis-Philippe has to escape the chaos of France after revolution and terror:
"Where I formerly saw through rose-coloured spectacles, everything now seems as black as pitch. I see liberty lost; I see the Convention totally destroying France through its neglect of all principle; I see civil war blazing; I see foreign armies descending from all sides on our happy country and I see no army of our own to oppose them."
October 26, 2021
More like 3.5 stars.
The last king of France tends to get either ignored or pilloried. I became interested in reading about him when I read about how he was a bartender at some point in post-revolutionary America and rubbed elbows with founding fathers and native Americans during his exile in the rough n' tumble New World. That he had even spent any time in America in a kind of surreal 1790s version of the film Cocktail was news to me. Then I realized I knew little about this guy. Sure he had something to do with Les Miserables and I think Chopin had sex with someone in the Tuileries during his reign. Beyond that I knew nothing.
There aren't many works on LP in English and this one by Howarth, with its comfortable, grandfatherly style that I really miss in historical biographies, is as good as you can get, I bet. LP certainly had a fascinating life, as I tried to indicate above, and I'm not being glib. As a branch of French royalty, the Orleans peeps like LP go back centuries as constant rivals to the French Crown, so it was maybe inevitable that in the post-Napoleon period the guy would be asked to come back and give monarchy a second chance. He fought in the early wars of the Revolution (French), his father betrayed the King and sent him to the guillotine, and was beheaded himself, LP and his siblings fled into exile for years. LP spent a lot of time in England, then America before returning back to Europe to engage in a few decades of light political shenanigans while marrying and having a bunch of kids.
That's the better part of the book, his pre-King life. Once LP gets ensconced again in Paris and the July Monarchy gets underway about halfway through the work, my interest started to flag. The account becomes a dense slog of names, intrigues, and confusing political rascality. It's still to be valued despite that, since Howarth goes out of his way to often clear up ambiguities about LP's character and to dispel some long-held myths/conspiracies.
The last king of France tends to get either ignored or pilloried. I became interested in reading about him when I read about how he was a bartender at some point in post-revolutionary America and rubbed elbows with founding fathers and native Americans during his exile in the rough n' tumble New World. That he had even spent any time in America in a kind of surreal 1790s version of the film Cocktail was news to me. Then I realized I knew little about this guy. Sure he had something to do with Les Miserables and I think Chopin had sex with someone in the Tuileries during his reign. Beyond that I knew nothing.
There aren't many works on LP in English and this one by Howarth, with its comfortable, grandfatherly style that I really miss in historical biographies, is as good as you can get, I bet. LP certainly had a fascinating life, as I tried to indicate above, and I'm not being glib. As a branch of French royalty, the Orleans peeps like LP go back centuries as constant rivals to the French Crown, so it was maybe inevitable that in the post-Napoleon period the guy would be asked to come back and give monarchy a second chance. He fought in the early wars of the Revolution (French), his father betrayed the King and sent him to the guillotine, and was beheaded himself, LP and his siblings fled into exile for years. LP spent a lot of time in England, then America before returning back to Europe to engage in a few decades of light political shenanigans while marrying and having a bunch of kids.
That's the better part of the book, his pre-King life. Once LP gets ensconced again in Paris and the July Monarchy gets underway about halfway through the work, my interest started to flag. The account becomes a dense slog of names, intrigues, and confusing political rascality. It's still to be valued despite that, since Howarth goes out of his way to often clear up ambiguities about LP's character and to dispel some long-held myths/conspiracies.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews