Part 1 France in 1715 - the king's leg and the choreography of power: the mythic present of the sun king; the Bourbon polity; the king's nobility; absolutism under pressure; the dreaded regency. Part 2 Negotiating stormy weather - the Regency and the advent of Fleury (1715-26): hope beyond sunset; the polysynody experiment; princes, dukes and magistrates - a new fronde?; the financial and economic context of the Regency; a Scottish wizard in a land of troubles; the childhood of Louis XV - six funerals and a wedding. Part 3 Fleury's France (1726-43): Hercules on a tightrope; Tridentine themes...; ...and Jansenist variations; the king; information - news, views, secrets and lies; the wilting cardinal. Part 4 Unsuspected Golden Years (1743-56): Herod "the well-beloved"?; the balance of power and the globalization of warfare; flexing the sinews of war; vital signs in rural France; health and wealth by stealth. Part 5 An enlightening age: the moment of the "encyclopedie"; points of light; civilized man, natural woman; re-enchanting a disenchanted world; the contested politics of the public sphere. Part 6 Forestalling deluge (1756-70): Damiens's epiphany; things fall apart - the seven years war; Choiseulian scapegoats - "devots" and Jesuits; the monarchy retools; languages of patriotism; the judges judged; from the Brittany affair to the Maupeou revolution. Part 7 The triumvirate and its aftermath (1771-84): Maupeou's revolution; the Turgot experiment; patriotism "a l'Americaine"; the price of patriotism; Figaro's masters. Part 8 Bourbon monarchy on the rack (1784-8): diamonds - a not a queen's best friend; the appearance of luxury and the luxury of appearances; silent revolution in an age of noise; the elusive public - financial and institutional reform. Part 9 Revolution in political culture (1789-91): imagining the nation, fearing the worst; summer lightning; the task of political architecture; demolition problems. Part 10 War and terror (1791-5): "aux armes, citoyens!"; Louis Capet bows out, terror bows in; the glacial logic of republican unity; killing Robespierre, ending terror. Part 11 The unsteady republic (1795-9): shaky foundations; revolution - a user's guide; economic fortunes and misfortunes; bourgeois revolutionaries...; ...and their other(s); conclusion - the Brumaire Leviathan and "la grande nation".
