August 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.
October 1, 2018
Masterfully organized and beautifully written by prolific historian Norwich (Four Princes), this ambitious one-volume history spans the centuries from Roman Gaul to 1945, aiming to "fill in the blanks" of France's past for general readers; i.e., who married or succeeded whom. With a clear focus on political history, Norwich impressively condenses vast time lines into succinct summaries. For example, the first chapter covers 900 years, moving from the Roman conquest of Gaul through the division of Charlemagne's empire. The pace slows considerably once the modern period is reached; sections on the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte are especially well done. Norwich challenges readers to consider whether any single man has had a greater long-term impact on Europe than the emperor and also ponder the motivations of politician Maximilien Robespierre. Especially critical of the Franco-Prussian War, which is movingly described, he concludes with the observation that France has made more contributions to European culture than any other nation. VERDICT Despite its comprehensive coverage, Norwich's latest is a highly readable history for Francophiles.--Marie M. Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 15, 2018
An eminent British historian weaves a vivid tapestry of France's past.Capping a prolific writing and broadcasting career, Norwich (Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsession that Forged Modern Europe, 2016, etc.) deftly distills the history of France from the Gauls to de Gaulle. He gallops through the first 1,500 years of his story, peopled, he writes, with few "particularly colourful characters" though many devastating conflicts, particularly the Hundred Years' War, protracted by the reign of a "hopelessly insane" king, Charles VI. The author dispatches in a mere three pages the intrepid advent and fiery end of Joan of Arc. Finally, arriving at 1515, Norwich finds a character "to make the heart beat faster": the remarkable Francis I, who, Norwich exclaims, "hit France like a rocket." He counts Francis I, a lover of books, the arts, and, not least, women, and Louis XIV, the Sun King, who reigned from 1643 to 1715, as France's "two most dazzling rulers," indelibly stamping the nation's culture and identity. Before, after, and between them, however, were greedy, inept, ill-advised, and clumsy rulers whose escapades, travails, marriages--and many, many mistresses--Norwich chronicles with verve and wit. After Francis I, the nation roiled with religious wars between Catholics and Huguenots, which ended, after nearly half a century, in 1598 with the Edict of Nantes. It was not the end of France's involvement in wars, however. There was the Thirty Years' War, "the deadliest and most brutal upheaval the continent had ever seen," beginning in 1618; the Seven Years' War, lasting from 1756 to 1763; the Revolution and commune at the end of the 18th century; Napoleon's extraordinary military campaigns; and two world wars. The author ascribes his love of France to childhood travels there with his mother, Lady Diana Cooper, and living in France when his father, Duff Cooper, was ambassador in the 1940s. This book, he writes, is "a sort of thank-offering to France."An engaging political history and affectionate homage.
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October 1, 2018
It requires a foolhardy self-confidence to condense 2,000 years of history into a mere 400 pages; to do so with clarity, charm, and a slightly salacious sense of humor borders on genius. Norwich's (Four Princes?, 2017) quip-filled political history is a mad dash through France's greatest hits: Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, Francis I, Henri IV, a succession of kings named Louis, the Revolution, Napoleon, Dreyfus, the Somme, Vichy, de Gaulle, and the Resistance. Although Norwich offers helpful guidance on numerous complex and fractious political squabbles, he is far more interested in personalities than politics. Hence his focus on the two larger-than-life rulers who defined French cultural dominance: Francis I and Louis XIV. Though no individual can truly define a civilization, a leader can transform it: "The effulgence of a great monarch may somehow fertilise and irradiate the genius of his subjects." Although the epilogue's borderline racist perspective on colonialism gives one pause, as do admiring asides about royal mistresses, which, as with such Gallic delicacies as snails, may leave one feeling queasy, there is much here to learn and enjoy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)