Éminence
Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France
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Éminence
Narrated by:
Craig Van Ness
Buy Now for £21.99
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Narrated by:
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Craig Van Ness
Chief Minister to King Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu was the architect of a new France in the seventeenth century and the force behind the nation's rise as a European power. One of the first statesmen to clearly understand the necessity of a balance of powers, he has captured the imagination of generations, both through the story of his life and through Alexandre Dumas's portrayal of him as a ruthless political mastermind in the classic The Three Musketeers.
Jean-Vincent Blanchard's rich and insightful new biography brings Richelieu fully to life in all his complexity. His careful understanding of politics as spectacle speaks to contemporary readers; much of what he accomplished was promoted strategically through his great passion for theater and literature. ƒminence offers a rich portrait of a fascinating man and his era, and gives us a keener understanding of the dark art of politics.
"Blanchard's captivating biography vividly captures the rise to power of a seminal figure who was instrumental in creating France as we know it."-Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Lovers of intrigue and derring-do will enjoy Jean-Vincent Blanchard's Eminence ... [His] lively style will appeal to general readers, while history buffs will appreciate his careful footnotes and plethora of primary sources."-The Baltimore Sun©2023 Jean-Vincent Blanchard (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Critic reviews
Vivid.... readers conditioned by Alexander Dumas's "The Three Musketeers" to see Richelieu as an arch villain will be prompted to a rethinking by ÉMINENCE.
Jean-Vincent Blanchard, professor of French at Swarthmore, has written an elegant and readable new biography that reveals what a political genius Richelieu really was.... Blanchard's emphasis on Richelieu's own conception of the religious statesman may be this book's most important contribution.... [his] treatment of the frequently troubled, yet ultimately critical relationship between king and minister is both comprehensive and accessible. Given the richness and complexity of the source material, this is no mean accomplishment.
Lovers of intrigue and derring-do will enjoy Jean-Vincent Blanchard's ÉMINENCE.... [his] lively style will appeal to general readers, while history buffs will appreciate his careful footnotes and plethora of primary sources.
A colorfully entertaining and beautifully crafted biography.... a lavishly detailed, often gripping, historical drama.... Readers will learn about every betrayal, plot, house arrest and assassination attempt, and how high-stakes politics could cost ambitious courtiers their lives.... if you are fascinated by political intrigue, this is your book.
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