The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography Paperback – October 17, 2008

As someone whose affinity for France lies far south of Paris, I was hoping that this book would give me something that seemed impossible to find anywhere else: A sense of the rest of France. My high hopes, which usually get dashed, were met ten times over. This is a brilliant work that truly captures just how remote and - yes, I'll say it - primitive much of France was right through to the end of World War I. It captures those corners of sociological history that puts the rest of French history into context (such as why during the French Revolution there was such a huge murderous backlash against the clergy ... the answer is that most of the nation still believed in local spirits and not Christian deities).

The book is beautifully written, instantly grabbing, and most of the time a real page-turner. It does a brilliant job of identifying the demarcation lines between ancient cultures, subcultures, and sub-subcultures through the fissures of French geography. And it makes one think about one's own cultural history, and the impact of roads and communications in unifying a nation into a single culture, as well as what gets lost along the way in that ruthless homogenization.

I can't wait to take this book with me back to the southern parts of France and re-reading it in context. It's just that good.

Robb goes deeply into the smallest corners of France, logging many hours on his bike as well as many hours in libraries and local sources of information. Overall, a story of the mapping of the country of France, this dense account describes how diverse were the cultures and tribes within France. Until World War I, many French citizens did not speak French! Rather they spoke widely divergent local dialects, only using the language of Paris for official government business (very much as the Chinese use Mandarin as a second language to their own local dialects today). Robb is a professor and scholar of French literature and history, so this volume is thoroughly sourced, annotated, and indexed. Subjects examined include the development of roads and railways, the beliefs and superstitions of the French--including fairies and local spirits interwoven with Catholic saints and miracles, the Tour de France originally a route for medieval "journeymen" as they developed their trades and crafts, the "...toothless, stunted peasants of the 'Chestnut Belt'..." contrasted with the beautiful paintings of peasants by Jules Breton, the treatment of unwanted children put out to die in various ways, the custom of human hibernation in winter, a class of peasant called "cagots" who had no distinguishing features yet were outcasts forced to live apart and subject to cruel discrimination, the huge vacant deserts within the country, peddlers and pilgrims roaming the countryside, river travel and commerce, development of silk and porcelain and tapestry industries, and tourist trade and spas... More like an almanac, 358 pages of remote facts that reveal a portrait of a nation unlike any I have ever read before. An excellent reference for Francophiles.

This book combines history, map-making and exploration, linguistics, and ethnography with a real story-teller's flair. History was never as neat as we tend to think; it's grubby, filled with discomforts, and very strange (and more often than not, hostile) people. Reading this book gives you an armchair tour of centuries of migration and rural life in Gaul without the fleas, mud, or hunger. I couldn't put it down.

For those who have visited, studied, and reflected on that immensely fascinating country called France, Robb's book provides a truly unique and informative view of the country's recent history that stands alone when compared to other recent histories of France. The book categorizes its own genre as "historical geography," but even if you've never read one of those, just dive in and watch the story unfold.

Much of France's mystique is based on the rich and iconographic legends surrounding the country's rise and development. It's perhaps easy to think that, once we have learned the main themes, we have "learned" the country. These main themes are indeed incredibly interesting in their own right: the rise of Charlemagne and the establishment of the Carolingian Empire, the development of educational institutions such as the cathedral schools and the university, the creation of premier architectural forms such as Early, High, Rayonnant, and Flamboyant Gothic styles, the rise of the Napoleonic Empire, the many artistic contributions of persons from all parts of the country, and the undeniable scientific advances made by the French in last three centuries. And yet, we find upon reading Robb's book that it is possible to know a little about all these things and perhaps not still have an understanding of how the France that we know today really came to be. It's a story interesting, surprising, and unusual, but it's a story worth telling, and it helps make all the rest of the story make even more sense.

Robb's text deals with the period between the French Revolution and the emergence of the 20th century. As such, the author particularly focuses on how the governmental programs initiated immediately after the Revolution impacted the lives of virtually every person in the country. Indeed, much of Robb's book argues that, prior to these events, France existed in a set of disparate and non-standardized "pays," with even such basics as language and weights and measures existing in unique forms in virtually every region. The text helps us hypothesize why the French people feel the way they do about their language, their way of life, and even their political and educational institutions.

The entire book is consistently fascinating, but those who have travelled to France over the years should find the later part of the book of special and curious interest, for it is here that Robb describes the rise of tourism in France, and the effect that these new creatures called "tourists" had on the country. It's a cart-before-the-horse story, where we see the country adapting to tourism, rather than tourists adapting to the county. In a way, we can see that the tourist played his own special role in the preservation of France's historical and cultural sites, and it is simply engrossing to read the symbiotic relationship France and its tourists had, and still have today.

If you speak French, or if you're just an armchair admirer of the French language, reading Robb's description of how the French language came to be the established standard tongue all over the country is surely one of the greatest highlights of this book. For the historian, this story is one that is rarely told, and holds a set of people, places, and governmental programs not normally considered in more traditional French history books. For the educator, the ability to follow the story of how the government worked in concert with local educational centers to advance and stabilize all regions in France into French speaking domains must surely rank as one of the premier examples of the power of educational programs. Don't miss it.

Every Francophile will wish to consider this new entry into the historical collection of French history books. Don't be surprised if you end up with a renewed interest in what is already a fascinating history. Highly recommended.