Author Archives: Culture& Stuff
How beavers and fops saved America
Oh, alright. the title of this post is a little misleading. But, as may be becoming apparent, I can’t resist ridiculous animal history, and it turns out the humble beaver really did play a crucial role in the early chapters of the American story.
Here’s the tale, quoted from Raymond Seitz’s review of Nick Bunker’s (by [...]
Posted in American History, Animals, Books, History Tagged Animals, history of the united states, reviews Leave a comment
Marie Antoinette and her Children: The shocking accusations at Marie Antoinette’s Trial
The most striking thing about reading the record of Marie Antoinette’s trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal in October 1793 is realising what an astonishing mess the whole thing really was. In most other accounts, revolutionary justice always seems so swift, so merciless, so ruthlessly efficient. Many of those who stood trial before the Tribunal had [...]
Marie Antoinette and her Children: The mystery and the history of Louis Charles in the tower. Part 1
On the morning of 11th August 1792, an exhausted and increasingly sweaty royal family sat in the reporters’ box of the National Assembly, a stone’s throw from the Seine in Paris. The night before, the Tuileries (the 16th-century royal palace near the Louvre which had been their residence since they were removed from Versailles in [...]
Marie Antoinette and her Children: The queen’s adopted family
From the day she arrived at Versailles at the age of only fourteen, one question loomed larger in the life of Marie Antoinette than any other. Versailles was so used to gossip that Whisper was practically its official language, but amidst the idle wagging of tongues and scurillous muck-raking, this question had extremely serious consequences [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Biography, children, french revolution, marie antoinette and her children, versailles Leave a comment
Marie Antoinette and her Children: A new, multi-part series on Culture&Stuff
In 1786, Marie Antoinette and her children posed for a portrait by Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun (click the image above for the full version). At first glance, the resulting picture presents a happy image. Madame Royale gazes lovingly up at her mother, the infant Duc de Normandie bounces on her lap, and the Dauphin looks every [...]
Is Paris Burning: Did a German General save the City of Light?
In February 1943, there was nothing in Stalingrad but the ghost of a city. The scale of the battle that had raged for the past seven months was so unimaginable that it is nearly impossible to talk about it without resorting to empty cliché. There are the figures, of course – 850,000 Axis casualties, 1.1 [...]
Posted in 20th Century, French History, Historical Places, History, Paris Tagged 20th Century, Paris, world war 2 Leave a comment
Marie Antoinette and her Children: The mystery and the history of Louis Charles in the tower. Part 2