Customer Reviews

A Traveller's History of France (Traveller's History - 4th ed.)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I travel I like to read the historic markers and understand the significance of what I am seeing. If I don't have a clue about the context ("the what dynasty was when?") I tend to feel lost and frustrated. Typically, I don't have the time in the weeks before my trip to digest an eight volume history of a country but would like a high level view of the important people, periods and events in the country's history. "A Traveller's History France" perfectly fit that bill.

Some of the features I liked are a list of all the French kings and their linneage, a timeline with all the relevant events and an alphabetical list of major events and battles. The writing is lucid, succinct as well as funny and opinionated. In this kind of book its important to convey a sense and a feel of entire century in the space of a paragraph and to stay connected to the larger political and social themes imbedded in the historical minutae. Robert Cole does this quite well.

The biggest negative for me is that half the book focuses on the last two hundred years and that is the period of French History I know best. I would have enjoyed more of a discussion of the rise of the monarchy, the British influence in France because of the various invasions and a richer discussion of the religious wars in the 16th and 17th centuries.

This is an excellent book for pre-trip reading or to include on your trip if you have space as you'll refer to it frequently. France for the general reader, not the French History expert.

A useful book that is an excellent starting point for anyone interested in France's history. A good introduction to an enormous topic - it serves the purpose. However, if you are looking for a detailed, in depth, insightful history of France or a guide book, this is not the book to buy... and it doesn't claim to be.

This is a good example of how NOT to write history. In about 200 pages we have a brief over-view of the whole history of France. Unfortunately, Cole tries to say too much--too many names and dates. In order to get all his names in Cole has little room left to explain anything important about history: wars "break-out" and artists "come to" Paris. Why any of this happens is without explanation.
Even for the traveller with a passing interest in the history of France, this book in inadequate. There is no special attention paid to places of interest to travellers; there is little mention of the great artists and cultural figures of France, and the history included in often written in an uninspired manner that will bore most readers.
If you are going to France and what some history, look elsewhere.

The text is poorly written - often it is unclear who the author is even referring to. For example, "he died a year later." Well. . . . who?? Many such examples where if you don't already know the history, you may feel a bit lost.

This book was recommended by the Smithsonian Institute for a trip to France. Although I have trouble differentiating the kings and pretenders, the approach helped me to stay interested. It touched on all the important aspects of the past and present life of the French.
Not for the superficial visitor, but for those determined to get the most out of your travels.

The subject is not definetely boring but this book is. Why? the relation of events are handled poorly, daily life is not written, the place of France in Europe in terms of political status or economical status is not written. It is like a reference book giving the dates and people names, who married to whom, who administered what part of country. This is definetely not history. I am still looking for a good book on France's history.