James B. Collins is Professor of History at Georgetown University. His previous publications include From Tribes to Nation: The Making of France, c.500–1799 (2002), The Ancien Régime and the French Revolution (2002) and Classes, Estates and Order in Early Modern Brittany (1994).

• Preface to the second edition; Chronology of events; Genealogy; Glossary; Historical background: the growth of the French state to 1627; 1. The crucible, 1620s–30s; 2. The twenty years' crisis, 1635–54; 3. Louis XIV: laying the foundation, 1654–83; 4. The debacle; 5. The mature monarchical state; 6. A new France takes shape; 7. Reform, renewal, collapse; 8. The interregnum, 1787–9.

'The reader who savours the full pleasures of this book will be able to feel that he or she, at the end of it all, has a real grasp of both what happened in the old Bourbon state and how it functioned, changed and came apart. One could scarcely ask more of an introductory work; and one can only regret that more supposedly 'introductory' textbooks do not come up to Professor Collins's exacting standards.' French History