English

The third lion : a novel about Talleyrand

The Third Lion, A Novel About Talleyrand, By Floyd Kemske. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838), better known as Talleyrand, is one of the most vilified and unprincipled men in history. He was also one of the most civilized. That is, his only guiding principle was civility. This Machiavellian statesman, the ultimate Enlightenment aristocrat, helped make and break both the French Revolution and Napoleon. An elder son disinherited due to his clubfoot, Talleyrand betrayed everyone and everything he worked for, slept with everybody's wives, took graft right and left, and practically invented insider trading. Unable to handle swords or guns, he learned to handle people. No matter how much France was turned upside down, often through his own doing, Talleyrand came out on top -- powerful, wealthy, and attended by beautiful women to the very end. Truly an anti-hero for America today. The Third Lion is a dryly humorous, intimate, compelling look at this great survivor, betrayer, and womanizer. Kemske makes this consummate villain not only understandable, but also sympathetic. By sharing Talleyrand's abandonment, his education by a string of duchesses in everything from civilit

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