A History of France

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

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