Maria Antoinette

Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot), 1805-1877Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 350K words
Chapters: 36

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Maria Antoinette by John S. C. AbbottAuthor: Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot), 1805-1877,Language: English, Class: DC: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: France, Andorra, Monaco, Release Date: Jan 6, 2010

Editor's review

This is John S. C. Abbott's biography of Marie Antoinette, a free public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg. Abbott was a 19th-century American writer of popular history; his biographical style is fluent and narrative, with clear praise and blame, focusing on character and court anecdotes and rendering Versailles on the eve of the French Revolution with considerable vividness. Its value lies in offering an early English-language biographical perspective that helps readers quickly grasp the basic outline of the queen's life; at the same time, readers should recognize that the text carries 19th-century moral judgments and should not be treated as modern scholarly consensus. It is suitable as an introductory supplementary reader for the history of the French Revolution, or for reading alongside more rigorous modern scholarship to observe how historical writing itself has changed. The English is of moderate difficulty, suited to slow reading and note-taking.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Beginning readers interested in the French Revolution and court history
History enthusiasts who want to understand 19th-century English biographical writing
Students who need English biographical material for reading practice
Readers interested in the evolution of Marie Antoinette's image

Not a good fit for

Specialist researchers seeking modern academic standards and source criticism
Readers who expect neutral, objective narration and dislike moralizing prose
Learners who struggle with English reading and have no辅助 tools

Reading tips

Read a timeline of the French Revolution first, then locate events in the biography.
Mark the author's evaluative statements as you read, and practice identifying narrative stance.
Read a modern biography alongside it on the same event, and compare their selection of sources.
After each chapter, write a three-sentence summary to keep the main thread from being buried in detail.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Are this biography's sources reliable?

The author was a 19th-century popular history writer; the narration is vivid but carries obvious period prejudice and moral judgment, and some details are not sourced according to modern academic standards. Treat it as a text for understanding early biographical writing, not as the sole basis for historical fact.

Can I understand it without background on the French Revolution?

You can follow the main line of the subject's life, but events such as the Estates-General and the Bastille are not laid out in detail. Spending half an hour on the basic course of the Revolution beforehand will make the reading smoother.

Is this book suitable as a reference for students' history assignments?

It can serve as supplementary material to help students understand the subject's life and the narrative style of early English biography, but it should not be a main cited source. Before citing it in assignments, check modern scholarly works and primary sources.

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About the author

Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot), 1805-1877 Author

John S. C. Abbott (1805–1877) was a nineteenth-century American writer of history known for popular biographies and narrative histories. Our catalog holds thirty of his works, covering subjects such as King Philip, Madame Roland, John Paul Jones, Daniel Boone: The Pioneer of Kentucky, Peter Stuyvesant, George Washington, the French Revolution, and the buccaneers of the Caribbean. He typically presented lives and their historical settings in a lively, readable style, turning history into engaging story, and he had some influence in bringing history to a general readership. His works are often grouped under inspirational and personal-growth reading, suited to readers seeking lessons from the lives of notable figures. Public information about him is limited, and details of his life and scholarly assessment require further verification.