The State in Early Modern France

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This major new book addresses the question, what is the state?, through an examination of the most important continental state of early modern Europe, France. Professor Collins combines a reinterpretation of early modern French society with a reevaluation of the French monarchical state, rejecting the absolute monarchy paradigm and offering in its place a more nuanced, balanced view of the monarchy. His revisionist focus is on the problems of the Old Regime within the context of their own political system.