The Man Who Outshone the Sun King PDF Download

Author: Charles Drazin
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0786726466
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Late in 1664, the musketeer D'Artagnan rode beside a carriage as it left Paris, carrying his friend Nicolas Fouquet to life imprisonment in a cell next door to the Man in the Iron Mask. From a glorious zenith as Louis XIV's first minister and Cardinal Mazarin's proté and eventual protector; builder of the stunningly opulent chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte; and patron of the arts and lover of beautiful women, Fouquet had suffered a wretched decline. The story of the rise and fall of Nicolas Fouquet is both compelling and unforgettable. Charles Drazin's beautifully written and vivid account brings to life Fouquet's remarkable gains in fortune, influence, and power, as well as the lavish and hazardous world of the royal court in seventeenth-century France.

Author: Philip Mansel
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022669092X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 669

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Book Description
Louis XIV was a man in pursuit of glory. Not content to be the ruler of a world power, he wanted the power to rule the world. And, for a time, he came tantalizingly close. Philip Mansel’s King of the World is the most comprehensive and up-to-date biography in English of this hypnotic, flawed figure who continues to captivate our attention. This lively work takes Louis outside Versailles and shows the true extent of his global ambitions, with stops in London, Madrid, Constantinople, Bangkok, and beyond. We witness the importance of his alliance with the Spanish crown and his success in securing Spain for his descendants, his enmity with England, and his relations with the rest of Europe, as well as Asia, Africa, and the Americas. We also see the king’s effect on the two great global diasporas of Huguenots and Jacobites, and their influence on him as he failed in his brutal attempts to stop Protestants from leaving France. Along the way, we are enveloped in the splendor of Louis’s court and the fascinating cast of characters who prostrated and plotted within it. King of the World is exceptionally researched, drawing on international archives and incorporating sources who knew the king intimately, including the newly released correspondence of Louis’s second wife, Madame de Maintenon. Mansel’s narrative flair is a perfect match for this grand figure, and he brings the Sun King’s world to vivid life. This is a global biography of a global king, whose power was extensive but also limited by laws and circumstances, and whose interests and ambitions stretched far beyond his homeland. Through it all, we watch Louis XIV progressively turn from a dazzling, attractive young king to a belligerent reactionary who sets France on the path to 1789. It is a convincing and compelling portrait of a man who, three hundred years after his death, still epitomizes the idea of le grand monarque.

Author: Charles Drazin
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 9780879102944
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
(Limelight). Half a century after its opening, The Third Man remains an unquestioned masterpiece of film artistry and, for many, the greatest British movie ever made. Whether it is Harry Lime's magical first appearance or the celebrated cuckoo clock speech or the climactic chase through the sewers beneath Vienna or the haunting theme music of Anton Karas, the film contains some of the most memorable moments in screen history. Drawing on both contemporary documents and accounts of the people involved, In Search of The Third Man explores the many myths that over the years have grown around this extraordinary film, and seeks to unravel the facts from the fiction. "...you'll want to read The Third Man...The story of the film's creation is as intriguing as the film itself" Leonard Maltin, Playboy

Author: Charles Drazin
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 144810677X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
boo hoo is a gripping, insider's account of the rise and fall of this most controversial of internet startups - a global, online retailer of sports and designer clothes.

Author: Benita Eisler
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307425258
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Frédéric Chopin’s reputation as one of the Great Romantics endures, but as Benita Eisler reveals in her elegant and elegiac biography, the man was more complicated than his iconic image. A classicist, conservative, and dandy who relished his conquest of Parisian society, the Polish émigré was for a while blessed with genius, acclaim, and the love of Europe’s most infamous woman writer, George Sand. But by the age of 39, the man whose brilliant compositions had thrilled audiences in the most fashionable salons lay dying of consumption, penniless and abandoned by his lover. In the fall of 1849, his lavish funeral was attended by thousands—but not by George Sand. In this intimate portrait of an embattled man, Eisler tells the story of a turbulent love affair, of pain and loss redeemed by art, and of worlds—both private and public—convulsed by momentous change.

Author: Charles Drazin
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 009946828X
Category : France
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Amidst the chaos and anarchy of civil war-wracked France, one man's spectacular rise and devastating fall was lost to history - until now.

Author: Howard Pyle
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
ISBN: 1454957395
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
The heroic legends of King Arthur and his brave Knights of the Round Table is now available in an unabridged, illustrated cloth hardcover edition in Union Square and Co.’s Children's Signature Clothbound Classics series. Although the folklore of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table is centuries old, their spirited adventures continue to capture the hearts of young readers today. Camelot, Merlin, Morgana, the Holy Grail—all originating from Arthurian legend—have been widely adapted in media and modern fantasy world-building. This Children's Signature Clothbound Classics edition of The Story of King Arthur and His Knights is the only widely available edition of Howard Pyle’s version, which was written specifically for children.

Author: Charles Drazin
Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Limited
ISBN: 9780283063503
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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Book Description
Alexander Kordas own story is as extraordinary as any film hes ever made, taking him from revolutionary Hungary to Hollywood during the advent of sound, and London in the 30s where he set up a film empire. A friend of Churchill, he worked for British Intelligence and was knighted for his war effort. In his new book, Charles Drazin paints a vivid picture of this remarkable man.

Author: Charles Drazin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : France
Languages : en
Pages :

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Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393334155
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
One of the earliest great stories of English literature after ?Beowulf?, ?Sir Gawain? is the strange tale of a green knight on a green horse, who rudely interrupts King Arthur's Round Table festivities one Yuletide, challenging the knights to a wager. Simon Armitrage, one of Britain's leading poets, has produced an inventive and groundbreaking translation that " helps] liberate ?Gawain ?from academia" (?Sunday Telegraph?).