08/27/2018
An author of many popular books on history (Four Princes: A History of Venice) and the son of a British ambassador to France, the late Norwich offers a brief overview of the country’s political and military history from Roman times through 1945, with much on kings (and later prime ministers and presidents), political intrigue, mistresses, and battles. Norwich’s strength is the colorful anecdote, such as when he reveals that during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, French generals, having good maps of the German side of the border but not of their own, “had considerable difficulty in finding the units they were supposed to command,” or describes the antics of Paul Déschanel, who governed for seven months in 1920 while suffering from mental illness and once left mid-meeting to jump into a lake. Norwich gallops through decades and sometimes even centuries of history with extreme speed: the initial 14-page chapter covers 900 years; in a single sentence he dispenses with the greatest health catastrophe in the country’s history, the Black Death. And he devotes about the same modest amount of space to the deaths of Emperor Louis Napoleon and his son during the 1870s as to the far more consequential Dreyfus Affair two decades later. While often informative and entertaining, this isn’t a deep dive. Agent: Felicity Bryan, Felicity Bryan Assoc. (Oct.)
John Julius Norwich-called a "true master of narrative history" by Simon Sebag Montefiore-returns with the book he has spent his distinguished career wanting to write, A History of France: a portrait of the past two centuries of the country he loves best.
Beginning with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the first century BC, this study of French history comprises a cast of legendary characters-Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Marie Antionette, to name a few-as Norwich chronicles France's often violent, always fascinating history. From the French Revolution-after which neither France, nor the world, would be the same again-to the storming of the Bastille, from the Vichy regime and the Resistance to the end of the Second World War, A History of France is packed with heroes and villains, battles and rebellion, stories so enthralling that Norwich declared, "I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed writing a book more."
With his celebrated stylistic panache and expert command of detail, Norwich writes in an inviting, intimate tone, and with a palpable affection for France. One of our greatest contemporary historians has deftly crafted a comprehensive yet concise portrait of the country's historical sweep.
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Beginning with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the first century BC, this study of French history comprises a cast of legendary characters-Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Marie Antionette, to name a few-as Norwich chronicles France's often violent, always fascinating history. From the French Revolution-after which neither France, nor the world, would be the same again-to the storming of the Bastille, from the Vichy regime and the Resistance to the end of the Second World War, A History of France is packed with heroes and villains, battles and rebellion, stories so enthralling that Norwich declared, "I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed writing a book more."
With his celebrated stylistic panache and expert command of detail, Norwich writes in an inviting, intimate tone, and with a palpable affection for France. One of our greatest contemporary historians has deftly crafted a comprehensive yet concise portrait of the country's historical sweep.
A History of France
John Julius Norwich-called a "true master of narrative history" by Simon Sebag Montefiore-returns with the book he has spent his distinguished career wanting to write, A History of France: a portrait of the past two centuries of the country he loves best.
Beginning with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the first century BC, this study of French history comprises a cast of legendary characters-Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Marie Antionette, to name a few-as Norwich chronicles France's often violent, always fascinating history. From the French Revolution-after which neither France, nor the world, would be the same again-to the storming of the Bastille, from the Vichy regime and the Resistance to the end of the Second World War, A History of France is packed with heroes and villains, battles and rebellion, stories so enthralling that Norwich declared, "I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed writing a book more."
With his celebrated stylistic panache and expert command of detail, Norwich writes in an inviting, intimate tone, and with a palpable affection for France. One of our greatest contemporary historians has deftly crafted a comprehensive yet concise portrait of the country's historical sweep.
Beginning with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the first century BC, this study of French history comprises a cast of legendary characters-Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Marie Antionette, to name a few-as Norwich chronicles France's often violent, always fascinating history. From the French Revolution-after which neither France, nor the world, would be the same again-to the storming of the Bastille, from the Vichy regime and the Resistance to the end of the Second World War, A History of France is packed with heroes and villains, battles and rebellion, stories so enthralling that Norwich declared, "I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed writing a book more."
With his celebrated stylistic panache and expert command of detail, Norwich writes in an inviting, intimate tone, and with a palpable affection for France. One of our greatest contemporary historians has deftly crafted a comprehensive yet concise portrait of the country's historical sweep.
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Product Details
BN ID: | 2940170519972 |
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Publisher: | Tantor Audio |
Publication date: | 10/02/2018 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
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