Vienna and Versailles : The Courts of Europe's Dynastic Rivals, 1550-1780 (New Studies in European History)

Rating:
Summary: Descriptive book on French and Austrian Habsburgs courts
Review: Historian Norbert Elias' classic works Court Society and The Civilizing Process had presented a problematic view of the Early Modern monarchies and courts. In his "Myths of Power. Norbert Elias and the Early Modern European Court ", Duindam concluded that Elias' approach to the early modern European court containes many misunderstandings, especially those connected with the much-heralded rise of the middle class and its inseparable companion, modernization. In this descriptive world, the author does not aim at providing a new model to understand European courts, but simply to compare the French court and the court of the Austrian Habsburgs, probably trying to show that there is still much work to be done before rendering any new general theory. The book is no very engaging, but it is not dry either. It can be savoured by the professional historian, and perhaps, by the educated layperson too.Therefore, my rate is 5 (content) and 2/3 (pleasure of reading).


Other books that I would recommend would be "Kings or People: Power and the Mandate to Rule by Reinhard Bendix"; "State and status" by Samuel Clark; "Monarchy, Aristocracy, and the State in Europe, 1300-1800" by Hillay Zmora; and "The Persistence of the Ancient Regime" by Arno J. Mayer.