my only request is that it not be too dry, if it%26#39;s too much like my high school (or even college) textbooks I probably won%26#39;t finish it. Thanks, folks.
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The Road from the Past: Traveling through History in France gives a pretty good overview of the country%26#39;s history while spinning a decent yarn as the author travels through the country. It is the least academis book that I know of.
There is a lot of decent historical fiction out there that can give you a good idea for a certain period in French history.
Lonely Planet, and I most other guidebooks had pretty good summaries of the country%26#39;s history if you want the Cliff Notes version. The Rough Guide even produces a book just on the history, it could be a good place to start.
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I have had good luck with %26quot;A Traveller%26#39;s History of France,%26quot; by Robert Cole. It is in it%26#39;s 7th edition (2005), so has been quite enduring. (It is actually part of a series of %26quot;Traveller%26#39;s Histories%26quot; for various countries by a variety of authors.)
Many French people I have met are quite knowledgeable of their history and enjoy discussing it; for a visitor to know something about a specific time period, king or pope is a very good conversation starter. Although it is only 250 pages, I have found the Cole book to provide enough context and information to allow me to keep up in a general conversation, whether we%26#39;re talking about Vercingetorix taking on Julius Caesar or Joan of Arc%26#39;s (her feast day is today!) betrayal by the Burgundians.
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Not exactly a history book, but you may find %26quot;60 Million Frenchmen Can%26#39;t be Wrong%26quot; an interesting read, written by Jean Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow; a Canadian husband and wife team. They lived in France, for two years,I think, while researching and writing the book, they describe their perceptions of French ideas about land, food, privacy, of ideas central to French society from centralization, the Napeolonic code, street protests, elite education etc etc etc.
I found it to be an honest, non judgemental look at France, and the people, a much less whiney description of French life than many books out there. They give thoughtful suggestions as to why the French are the way they are, but don%26#39;t insist they are right.
Much better than a textbook. Even my 16 year old daughter read it, after having spent a year in high school here she thought it a good book to include on her list.
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This is a new book out, Into A Paris Quartier (review from Internet mag. Bonjour Paris)
This is a lightweight book, meaning that it is not heavy reading in spite of dealing with weighty topics like the architecture and urban history of Paris, the politics of the Wars of Religion, and the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre. Diane Johnson, author of three recent bestsellers (Le Mariage, Le Divorce, and L���Affaire ) in addition to Natural Opium: Some Travelers��� Tales and another half dozen books, has the rare gift of sharing knowledge and insights with unpretentious grace. Key figures from a millennium of French history come alive with their ambitions, intrigues, and love affairs. You���ll find juicy stuff about French Kings and Queens, especially Queen Margot, daughter of Catherine de M��dicis, wife of Henry IV, and sister to three other kings.
Throughout the book, there is a deft counterpoint between intimate personal histories and the sweep of great events that changed the world. You learn a lot of French history, but it goes down easily. You also get an unusual view of Paris, not as a tourist site, but as a living city where daily life goes on among the monuments of the past. All people and subjects in Into a Paris Quartier tie in to what is now the sixth arrondissement, the iconic Left Bank neighborhood centered around St.-Germain-des-Pr��s. Johnson and her husband, John, live on Rue Bonaparte, a few hundred feet from that church, in the oldest in Paris.
Not everything in the book is serious. There are warmly witty anecdotes about Johnson���s neighbors and about the history of their houses, about the art galleries, bookstores and chic stores of the sixth, as well as intriguing bits about its caf��s and nightclubs, especially those where French haut monde (and demi monde) hung out in the Twenties and Thirties. Johnson devotes a couple of chapters to interaction between Paris and the American writers and artists who lived in or visited often. She writes about the elegant lesbians who gravitated to the salon of Natalie Barney, a beautiful, rich American. Johnson lists some of the luminaries often found at Miss Barneys, including August Rodin, James Joyce, Edna St. Vincent Millay, T.S. Eliot, Isadora Duncan, Ezra Pound, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Sherwood Anderson, Mary McCarthy, and Truman Capote. As my wife said when I read her the list, ���it would make one hell of a dinner party.���
The book was just published as part of the National Geographic Directions series of travel-oriented books by major literary figures. I loved the book and admire its author. You will too.
amazon.com/exec/…
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This is a new book out, Into A Paris Quartier (review from Internet mag. Bonjour Paris)
This is a lightweight book, meaning that it is not heavy reading in spite of dealing with weighty topics like the architecture and urban history of Paris, the politics of the Wars of Religion, and the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre. Diane Johnson, author of three recent bestsellers (Le Mariage, Le Divorce, and L���Affaire ) in addition to Natural Opium: Some Travelers��� Tales and another half dozen books, has the rare gift of sharing knowledge and insights with unpretentious grace. Key figures from a millennium of French history come alive with their ambitions, intrigues, and love affairs. You���ll find juicy stuff about French Kings and Queens, especially Queen Margot, daughter of Catherine de M��dicis, wife of Henry IV, and sister to three other kings.
Throughout the book, there is a deft counterpoint between intimate personal histories and the sweep of great events that changed the world. You learn a lot of French history, but it goes down easily. You also get an unusual view of Paris, not as a tourist site, but as a living city where daily life goes on among the monuments of the past. All people and subjects in Into a Paris Quartier tie in to what is now the sixth arrondissement, the iconic Left Bank neighborhood centered around St.-Germain-des-Pr��s. Johnson and her husband, John, live on Rue Bonaparte, a few hundred feet from that church, in the oldest in Paris.
Not everything in the book is serious. There are warmly witty anecdotes about Johnson���s neighbors and about the history of their houses, about the art galleries, bookstores and chic stores of the sixth, as well as intriguing bits about its caf��s and nightclubs, especially those where French haut monde (and demi monde) hung out in the Twenties and Thirties. Johnson devotes a couple of chapters to interaction between Paris and the American writers and artists who lived in or visited often. She writes about the elegant lesbians who gravitated to the salon of Natalie Barney, a beautiful, rich American. Johnson lists some of the luminaries often found at Miss Barneys, including August Rodin, James Joyce, Edna St. Vincent Millay, T.S. Eliot, Isadora Duncan, Ezra Pound, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Sherwood Anderson, Mary McCarthy, and Truman Capote. As my wife said when I read her the list, ���it would make one hell of a dinner party.���
The book was just published as part of the National Geographic Directions series of travel-oriented books by major literary figures. I loved the book and admire its author. You will too.
amazon.com/exec/…
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For %26quot;history lite%26quot; you can do worse than read thro%26#39; the %26quot;Contexts%26quot; section at the back of the Rough Guide to Paris or France.
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Bonjour, JustGrace!
Ok ok, I admit that some of the books at the local library can be a bit text-bookie...but sometimes you%26#39;d be just so proud of yourself for having read the whole dang thing, know what I mean?!?! And maybe too, a bit intriqued, as well. Despite great inner protest from myself, I checked out a book entirely devoted to the life and times of Marie de Maintenon, the mistress, and later supposed wife of King Louis the XIVth....and WOW!!!! I learned SO much! About the years leading up to the revolution, the life in the royal court, all about the Sun King....so much. It was really and truly a facinating READ!
As one who detests academia in it%26#39;s most academic text form, I can highly recommend one read up apon any subject that TRULY interests them, academic or nay...because when one is infused with the desire to learn and know more about something, it really does not matter in which manner it is told to you! So head to your local library, today!!
lasscass
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JustGrace, I agree with LassCass. On the plane and while I was there, I read a history about Madame Maintenon%26#39;s predecessor as %26quot;maitresse en titre%26quot; to Louis XIV - the title of the book was the subject%26#39;s name: Athenais. Made visiting the sites described in the book (esp. Versailles) ever so much more interesting.
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Hi Grace I have just read a fascinating book called Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser. I could nt put it down. It tells you all about the French royal family, the French revolution and what life was like at that time. I really recommend it.
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