Marie Antoinette has remained atop the popular cultural landscape for centuries for the daring in style and fashion that she brought to 18th century France. For the better part of the queen's reign, one man was entrusted with the sole responsibility of ensuring that her coiffure was at its most ostentatious best. Who was this minister of fashion who wielded such tremendous influence over the queen's affairs? "Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, and the Revolution "charts the rise of Leonard Autie from humble origins as a country barber in the south of France to the inventor of the Pouf and premier hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette.
By unearthing a variety of sources from the 18th and 19th centuries, including memoirs (including Leonard's own), court documents, and archived periodicals the author, French History professor and expert Will Bashor, tells Autie's mostly unknown story. Bashor chronicles Leonard's story, the role he played in the life of his most famous client, and the chaotic and history-making world in which he rose to prominence. Besides his proximity to the queen, Leonard also had a most fascinating life filled with sex (he was the only man in a female dominated court), seduction, intrigue, espionage, theft, exile, treason, and possibly, execution. The French press reported that Leonard was convicted of treason and executed in Paris in 1793. However, it was also recorded that Leonard, after receiving a pension from the new King Louis XVIII, died in Paris in March 1820. Granted, Leonard was known as the magician of Marie-Antoinette's court, but how was it possible that he managed to die twice?
Industry Reviews
A delicious and meticulously researched perspective on the man and a society tipped irrevocably on the brink of ruin. A heady read, indeed. * LAVENDER *
A New York Post "Must-Read" BookA Mental Floss "Favorite Read""Entertaining . . . captures details of an extraordinary time and place. An engaging...narrative of a celebrity hairstylist, circa 1789. Biography buffs and lovers of historical fiction will enjoy this work..." - Library Journal[Starred Review] "An informative examination of a little-known player on a great stage...An entertaining, well-researched work that will particularly interest students of cultural history and the French Revolution." - Kirkus Reviews" ...[G}ives you plenty of bang for your buck...: thirty-pound wigs, mouse-infested coiffures, and the occasional miniature naval battle all make appearances. But it is also a scholarly history not merely of the vagaries and politics of Versailles court fashion, but the rise and fall of Leonard Autie, a man of modest background who rose to become hairdresser to the queen, and whose fortunes were inexplicably tied to that of the doomed monarchy. - Sadie Stein, The Paris Review"...most intriguing and immaculately researched" - France Today"Compelling....Bashor weaves history, politics, French court customs, into a movie-worthy tale of ambition, luck, romance, and tragedy..." - The Santa Fe New Mexican"Bashor continues to offer original perspectives on the last Bourbons and those who served them. In this dual biography, Marie Antoinette emerges through the eyes and "magic comb" of Leonard Autie, her gifted hairdresser ...Marie Antoinette's Head not only entertains, it conveys both the events and the character of the age." - Reed Benhamou, PhD, Professor Emerita, Indiana University "This is a new and riveting account, in a clear and attractive style, of significant historical events that lead to the French Revolution of 1789, as seen through the eyes of Marie Antoinette's ambitious hairdresser..." - Aleksandra Gruzinska, School of International Letters and Cultures, Arizona State University"I have nothing but praise. The book is so well researched, so well written, so totally readable that it will appeal to a very wide public...." - David Wingeate Pike, American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Paris
