Combined Shapeclose Created with Sketch.
Spring 2024

ZONE BOOKS

Combined Shape Created with Sketch.
Group 2 Created with Sketch.
2.10 pieter boel pelican preview
A New Interview
“Animals and Absolutism,” Peter Sahlins on Against the Grain on KPFA 94.1

In an interview on Against the Grain, Peter Sahlins discusses 1668: The Year of the Animal in France. Click here to learn more about the book. Click here to listen to the full interview.

“What do animals have to do with absolutism? Can animal bodies and representations be used to justify authoritarian rule, or can they model forms of conduct expected of a ruler’s associates? According to Peter Sahlins, animals that lived and were depicted in the royal gardens of Versailles played a key role in Louis XIV’s reign, by, among other things, highlighting the violence and chaos that would presumably prevail in the absence of the Sun King’s absolute rule.”