Louis XIV by Ian Dunlop

A solid read about one of the giants of European history.  I had read a number of volumes that touched on Louis, but none with him as the central figure.  Even the most recent Age of Louis XIV centered on the times, not the man.

He played a key role in the growth of France, perhaps ruling to the apogy of its ascendance, during a 72 year reign from 1643 to 1715.  But he also saw its rapid decline due to his overreaching and incessant war mongering.  France was nearly destroyed after Louis stripped its resources (and people) beyond the breaking point in the effort to crush the Dutch, the Spanish Netherlands, the Empire and much of Spain.  In the end, most of Europe united to stop the French from imposing Louis' will across the entire continent.

Notably, I enjoyed the detailed examination of the War of Spanish Succession, of which I knew little prior to this read.  

Dunlop is known as an architectural writer, so his perspective on the building of Versailles and so many other buildings was unique and enjoyable.  Louis' love of building was only matched by his love of war.

My only complaint of the book is the extensive quoting in French without English translation.  If you're writing a book in English, it's simply counterproductive, and disdainful to your audience, to include hundreds of French quotations without translation.  This fault played out on nearly every page of the book.

Fortunately, there were also plenty of quotations in English, reminding me that great biographies harvest first person accounts of the actual participants and other contemporaries.  Ample quotations from the writings of Madame de Sevigne, Louvois, Bossuet, Saint-Simon, Madame de Maintenon and many others provided authority and detail to the life and times of the Sun King.