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A review by cbushwrite
Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France by Jean-Vincent Blanchard
4.0
My habit, lately, has been to randomly snag promising-looking books from the "New" shelves at my library. Having enjoyed "The Three Musketeers" while in high school, I got very excited to see this on the shelf. Of course, it had to come home with me.
This is an interesting, highly readable, examination of the cardinal's life. It skips back and forth a bit in the beginning of the book, and it is unclear how Richelieu came to power--sometimes, it was simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and other times, it was simply luck that kept him alive and upwardly mobile. He comes off as something of a sycophant, more than a man who ruled a kingdom.
However, it also provides insight into the lives of the king, his mother, and the cardinal himself. Far from caricatures, these are people motivated by love, hate, and fear. Just like anyone else. Seeing how powerful emotions intertwine with turbulent times and produce the beginnings of modernity is the gift of Jean-Vincent Blanchard. Thankfully, he shares it with us.
This is an interesting, highly readable, examination of the cardinal's life. It skips back and forth a bit in the beginning of the book, and it is unclear how Richelieu came to power--sometimes, it was simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and other times, it was simply luck that kept him alive and upwardly mobile. He comes off as something of a sycophant, more than a man who ruled a kingdom.
However, it also provides insight into the lives of the king, his mother, and the cardinal himself. Far from caricatures, these are people motivated by love, hate, and fear. Just like anyone else. Seeing how powerful emotions intertwine with turbulent times and produce the beginnings of modernity is the gift of Jean-Vincent Blanchard. Thankfully, he shares it with us.