Customer Reviews

To the Scaffold: The Life of Marie Antoinette

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In Carolly Erickson's biography of Marie Antoinette, "To the Scaffold", the author presents a wonderful picture of an often maligned historical enigma. We see Marie's origins as one of the many daughters of Maria Theresa of Austria (one of the most formidable rulers of all time), her arranged marriage to the future King Louis XVI of France (a man more comfortable in the woodshop than the palace), her fifteen years as Queen of France, and the revolution that portrayed her as silly and evil. Erickson evokes the atmosphere of pre-revolution France well, and little snippets of the excess and immorality of the French upper class was informative (apparently incest was common with fathers and daughters). However, I don't feel that I know much more about Marie than before I read the book. Almost half the book deals with others in her life or the political scene. Also given short attention is the Swedish nobleman who was Marie's long-term lover. It would also have been nice to have a wrap-up of the royal children and the others who played so prominently in Marie's life -- they are simply abandoned, and the book ends abruptly. On one level, this is very effective -- after all, with Marie's death the world she knew ended -- but so many digressions are in the rest of the book, a better ending would have been nice.

This is one of the most interesting and well-written biographies I've ever read. The author describes pre-revolutionary France as Marie-Antoinette came to it, compares many aspects of Versailles with her Austrian homeland, and continues with a captivating and delightfully interesting tale of life at Versailles. The revolution is explained in an easy to follow and fascinating manner. The reader comes to understand and sympathize with the king and queen as well as learn French history as never before told. I could't put this book down

I am always suspicious of biography that reads like it was historical fiction. Erickson's To the Scaffold is one of this breed. It reads well, particularly at the beginning, but I deeply disliked her narrating details as fact that could really only have been inferred from letters. A certain amount of that can be excused as atmosphere building. I am not too upset when she describes a historical person at a certain moment as pink with health, for instance. However, when she treats certain more controversial aspects of a historical figure as though it were fact instead of a disputed opinion, I get significantly more irritated (for instance, the supposed affair of Marie Antoinette). The way that Erickson uses detail and the unobtrusiveness of the historical sources lends her an unfair feeling of narrative omniscience.

I suppose that there is a case to be made that this sort of text opens accessibility to those who would not normally read historical books. In my view, this is more a kind of dramatization than a real biography. It was satisfying enough to read for entertainment, but I found it wanting as historical text.

"To the Scaffold" was one of the first biographies that I read on Marie Antoinette, and I must say that it was also one of the most enjoyable.

Erickson thoroughly covers Marie Antoinette's life from her youth in Austria to her last tumultuous days. As well, there are little additions about life in Versailles, and on the Paris streets.

One definite asset that this biography possesses is that one does not need much prior information about the Revolution to understand it. Different political ideologies, thoughts, and actions are carefully explained, yet the general flow of the book generally does not sway too far from Antoinette. This biography was also enjoyable to read because of the numerous (and sometimes amusing) quotations used, as well as the in-depth account of Antoinette's last days.

The only noticeable fault that I found was the tendency of the author to take sides. For example, it is said (with evidence provided in the footnotes) that Marie Antoinette and Fersen most definitely had an affair. This is, in my opinion, still a debatable topic.

Nonetheless, I highly recommend this biography to everyone. Novices to the revolution will find it an invaluable starting point, and the more knowledgeable will greatly enjoy the quotations and first-hand accounts recorded.

This biography of Marie Antionette is well-written, well-researched, and quite enjoyable. It portrays Antoinette with as many personality facets as most of have: at times naive, sheltered, spoiled, lonely, materialistic, prideful, humble, cunning, generous... it doesn't show her as the evil Queen that the French made her out to be, nor does it try to show her as purely a victim. (Although, I do pity her unfortunate match with the young Dauphin, Louis XIV - yick!)

The last fourth or so of the book gets a little bogged down in political details, and it ends abruptly with Antoinette's death. It left me wanting to know more about her children and what happened next.

I am looking for more Carolly Erickson books!

Personally, I would have preferred to have been a cobbler as to have been born into royalty. The Parisian shoemaker may not have biographies written about him, but he probably had far less stressful life and kept his neck intact.

Poor Marie was the daughter of Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, and queen of Hungary and Bohemia...quite an impressive resume and a distant maternal figure who shuffled Marie off to wed the loutish Louis XVI when she was a mere 15. Until she arrived in France, she'd never even laid eyes on him.

A story ensues that is so deranged and tragic that, at it's end, you'll tap-dance with joy that you live in the 21st century.

This book was informative and not bad but the style of writing was a little less than inspiring and somewhat flat.

Erickson paints a picture of a spoiled but sympathetic Antoinette, more historically accurate than the popular misconception of an insensitive elitist.

As always, Erickson writes entertaining non-fiction. This appears to be out of print at the moment, but grab it and any other Erickson titles as fast as you can.

I have read this book twice and each time I found myself wishing for a different ending.This historical account of one womans life fascinated me to such an extent that I wish to know more.I hope that many others will be able to appreciate this masterpiece

"To the Scaffild" meant "To the Guillotine". It is a brilliant account of French revolution, with two heroines, one Lady Liberty and the other its victim Marie Antoinette. Oxford American Dictionary defines guillotine as "a machine with a heavy blade used for beheading criminals in France". criminals? Luois XVI and his unfortunate wife Marie- Antoinette were definetely not criminals To the Scaffold", of course meant "to the guillotine". It is a brilliant account of French revolution. They were the unluckiest royal couple in all of history to get engulfed in a maelstrom of events beyond their control. They were of noble hearts and displayed tremendous courage against severe odds and went to the guillotine with heads high. The famine, bad weather, bankrupt treasury, countless corrupt officials at Versailles, and a inept, brooding Louis in charge. He was weak, lacked leadership and looked to his wife for advise. Antoinette was smart, intelligent but did not know how to govern. She did spend lavishly, foolishly and may have been the true culprit in bringing down the monarchy. But hey, that's what queens are supposed to do. She was so young, innocent, unaware of the treachery at Versailles. She had to learn on the job with no help from the dauphin, who was clumsy, shy, impotent and of weak mind. They were doomed.

Louis always believed that the revolutionaries were a minority and people at large loved him and all would be well in the end. Later on as events unfolded they reasoned Austria and Prussia would come to their rescue. That was their undoing, as Parisiners would never let foreigners invade their beloved city and annihilate them. They had to get rid of Louis. His old confidant, a black smith, betrayd him as the national guard found incriminating evidence of plots against the revolution, hidden in a safe. They marched him to guillotine.

Innuendoes, rumors did Antoinette in as she was always hated by the populace.... She was called [the] worst names, accused of incest, deprived of her children, and was sentenced to die on trumped of charges of treason.

The revolution germinated the day Louis XIV, the sun king, uttered the words, "Le Etas, Ce' moi". Ultimately his great great grand son paid the price. If other countries had intervened in time in the late 1790, the slaughter could have been averted. There would have been no Napolean, the whole history of the world would have been completely different. Edmund Burke so aptly said at that time "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".

Great Read. Highly recommend it for all history buffs.

I never thought of Carolly Erickson as a first rate biographer, even though her "Bloody Mary" some years ago met with some critical acclaim. However, since her pulp novel "Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette" hit the shelves, I have lost all confidence in her as a historian. I read "To the Scaffold" and at first found it charming, with the loveliness of the young queen brought to life but then it descends into the same old cliche. The beautiful queen with the fat, indifferent husband who takes a lover out of boredom - this does not match with the information we are given about Marie-Antoinette in her letters to her mother and in the memoirs of those who knew her. Erickson chose sensationalism over facts. Anything to make a buck....