THE SUNSET OF THE SPLENDID CENTURY (386 pp.)W. H. LewisAnchor Books ($1.45).
Besides being an indefatigable woman chaser who didn't care what he mixed with his Bourbon blood, France's Louis XIV was a fatherly figure who did his best to treat his bastards as if they were true princes. Decked out with noble titles, married off to peers of the realm, the royal by-blows took their places in court and kingdom beside their legitimate brothers. Thus raised high by the king's power alone, the king's shadow family was a perfect gauge of his fortunes....
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