A sovereign ruler indiscriminately, corruption spread everywhere, a hypocritical clergy ensuring its domination by intolerance ... The stereotypes have a hard time on the Ancien Régime, obligatory reference for who wants to stigmatize a political and social system which we would have fortunately escaped thanks to the Revolution. So many received ideas inherited from the nineteenth century, that one of the greatest specialists of the eighteenth century French strongly contests here, through case studies very precise and documented: functioning of the court, role of women, power of the Moreover, if the Ancien Regime were so bad , would it still survive under so many forms in our present institutions? A sobering reflection on our political practices. And a contribution to the never-ending debate on what would be the best system of government.--Vendémiaire.