France: An Adventure History

by Graham Robb

This is a profoundly original and entertaining history of France, from the first century bc to the present day, based on countless new discoveries and thirty years of exploring France on foot, by bicycle and in the library.

Beginning with the Roman army’s first recorded encounter with the Gauls and ending with the gilet jaunes protests in the era of Emmanuel Macron, each chapter is an adventure in its own right. Along the way, readers will find the usual faces, events and themes of French history – Louis XIV, the French Revolution, the French Résistance, the Tour de France – but all presented in a shining new light.

Graham Robb’s France: An Adventure History does not offer a standard dry list of facts and dates, but a panorama of France, teeming with characters, full of stories, journeys and coincidences, giving readers a thrilling sense of discovery and enlightenment. It is a vivid, living history of one of the world’s most fascinating nations by a ceaselessly entertaining writer in complete command of subject and style.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, France, Travel, Historical, European History, Audiobook

544 pages, Hardcover

First published March 17, 2022

About the author

Graham Macdonald Robb FRSL (born June 2, 1958) is a British author.

Robb was born in Manchester and educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester and Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied Modern Languages. He earned a PhD in French literature at Vanderbilt University.

He won the 1997 Whitbread Book Award for best biography (Victor Hugo) and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Rimbaud in 2001. In 2007, he won the Duff Cooper Prize for The Discovery of France.

On April 28, 2008 he was awarded the £10,000 Ondaatje Prize by the Royal Society of Literature in London for The Discovery of France.

Reviews

[Wafflepirates · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review*

This is a fairly ambitious book, covering a huge amount of time in an attempt to give an impression of the whole history of France as a nation. Each chapter is a self-contained story, there is not much cohesion in how the history is approached, and there are often huge gaps not covered as the author bounces between topics. Less comprehensive and more episodic, the author has compiled stories surrounding historical events they find of interest, expounding on them as a storyteller might. I was not interested in all of the chapters, but there were many that were very cool and covered interesting topic (my favorite was the one about the tree). I'd classify this as much more of a popular history book, it's readable and the author makes an attempt to be funny and engaging, anyone looking for a more academic approach to the history will be disappointed. Overall, the concept is interesting, and while some chapters were weaker than others, this was an interesting read and a fairly unique take on popular history writing.

[Ian Mapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this isn't quite what I was expecting (as with the other Graham Robb book I read), this was a great read.

First - don't be put off by the size. The book is huge, too thick to take on public transport. But its a quick read, with a large percentage of the book made up of pictures, an index, a travel guide and reference text.

I was expecting a travelogue kind of book, with the author heading around locations on his bike and discussing his discoveries. It is 18 unconnected essays, taking the reader from Roman Times to the Gilets Jeune movement. Sometimes, I am not sure whether the author actually visited any locations at all.

An understanding of French history is useful too, as the author just throws you into the topic, with little of a back story. He assumes you know about the several republics, the various Napoleons and so on.

First couple of chapters were needed to me to appreciate the style and the book came into its stride from the discussion about the tree at the centre of France - spotted on an old map and one of the places our author went to investigate.

Quality writing that shone through.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely starter into French history. I did discover however that I already knew more about French history than I thought I did. Hence, the starter.

[Harry B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robb's France: An Adventure History was ... a weird one. It was as if he purposefully tried explaining a painting with words, but without the benefit of a single temporal frame of reference, nor even, a contextial groundwork. The "idea" of France, its abstractions, hypocrisies, myths, and history were all meshed into one frame per chapter. And even within each chapter, its hodgepodge approach to things French (not limited to French words, names, and god forbid, the arcane French slang), just leaves an innocent reader such as myself, simply bewildered. To fully appreciate what I mean, perhaps a few other synonyms would help: lost, annoyed, impatient, or desperate for coherence. This might (unfortunately) be my legal training; I always look for the point, I skip the meandering. But Robb's work is just that, and is the whole point: to meander, as he does on his trusty bicycle, the place called France, but also, simultaneously, the ideas, pictures, and attitudes that make up "France". His style is not straightforward, but that of a curious vagabond slash ADHD explorer who cannot stick to one thing in particular. He reminds me of a comic plotting his course on a treasure map, going round and round until s/he reaches their destination; when a simple straight line would have reached their objective ages ago.

However, and I have to admit it, Robb successfuly, albeit with great frustration on my part, impart a sense of "adventure". As if I have been transplanted in France in the fourth dimension. Hence my earlier comment: the lack of a temporal timeframe. Please, dear stranger, do not confuse this with what Robb does from beginning to end, which was to follow French history from Vercingetorix's Gaul all the way to Macron's France (the latter is meant without offence). What I mean is in each chapter, I couldn't help but feel like freefalling through time itself, seeing swathes of reality and abstractions that manifest themselves in what makes up France, both tangible and intangible.

To conclude, and realising Robb's style has, for better or worse, infected what I am trying to convey to you innocent reader, his book was a completely new experience for me. I do not know if this is a "style" worth categorising separately from other styles of telling history under an objective point of view, but it certainly does on my shelf. It was both informative and uninformative. I have realised, halfway through it, that I should have read a convential history on France before I picked Robb's up. Nonetheless, I have no real regrets. It is one of those books which, although thorny, was a delight. Had I possessed more knowledge on this west-Eurasian country, I would have given it 4, or even 5 stars. Alas, all it gets is a robust 3 stars given my reasons above.

With that, I guess all I have to say is Voilà !

[Tracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graham Robb has bicycled thousands of miles over the decades in what is now France, and in this book, he takes readers along. He begins in ancient Gaul with the tribes that fought against Julius Caesar. The tribes had a network of listening posts and traces of ancient life can still be found on low hilltops near rivers in the topography of the land. Robb moves forward to a sheepherder prodigy from Aurillac named Gerbert, who later became Pope in 999 after spending many years in Reims. He took the name Sylvester II and was scholarly and used ancient Roman and Arabic manuscripts to experiment with. The author discusses the Cathers, describes maps featuring a particular tree, then follows a 1552 guidebook by Charles Estienne. Robb then brings us forward with well-known as well as not well-known people right up until 2020. This is an enjoyable, though serious, ride through the land of France and its history. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Olia Tersina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Дуже інформативна та цікава книжка про різні історичні моменти та постаті у французькій історії.

Так, тут немає точної хронології подій та детального опису всіх важливих історичних моментів, тому, якщо ви не орієнтуєтесь зовсім в історії Франції, буде трохи складно зрозуміти певні події.

Але, якщо ви, як я, базово знаєте історію Франції та її основних історичних героїв, то читайте цю книжку сміливо.

В кожному розділі розповідається окрема історія, яка пов'язана з певною історичною постаттю/подією, а також автор переважно відвідує місце, де відбувалися відповідні події, і розповідає, як все відбувається зараз, і що змінилося.

Історії легко читаються, іноді здається, ніби це художня книжка, а не хрестоматія французької історії.

Автор також описує сучасні події у Франції - це обмеження прав жінок/деяких національностей/прав людини, і це теж важливо знати. Бо, якби романтично Париж не виглядав та звучав, в цій країні є багато нюансів та своїх національних проблем.

[Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad by any means but extremely inconsistently paced. Tough to hold my interest until it got to semi-modern times. Putting the bike on the cover is a bit of a false flag, not much of a travelogue.

[Jud Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The notion behind this book is to tell the stories behind various obscure places in France that the author and his wife have visited by bicycle. These places, for the most part, 1. were the locations of great events (i.e. battles), or 2. used to be on a more common route of travel but are now off the beaten track, or 3. were homes to someone with a degree of celebrity, then or now, even if fictional (Emma Bovary). As such the author’s chapters each read like a sort of cocktail mixing the present and the past, with the past providing a piquancy that penetrates a smooth, blanketing present.

Robb’s scheme of time is geological: in his conclusion he looks forward to a time when there are new massifs and new cols climbed by bicyclists who won’t be speaking any recognizable form of French. The land will always predominate: it shrugs at the presence of such pretenders as language (although language is doing a pretty good job of warming the seas these days).

But the geology is just for show, or perhaps for metaphor. The real work here is done by history and human geography, with which Robb fashions an unforgettable lesson in the impermanence of current events, as if he’s standing next to his bicycle in a road cut across a mountain, pointing out the Gallo-Roman, Merovingian, Carolingian, Bourbon, Bonapartist, or Républicain strata, all of them buried in temporal soil only to be revealed by a hot new road project that will itself someday vanish in time.

His history rock-hound nuggets are the stars of the show, providing him with the conversation pieces that give this book its unique flavor. There are published atlases and travelogues of old, from different eras: one from 1552 is still concerned with pilgrim pathways and brigands; another from the 18th-century — on the cusp of revolution — is a literate glazier’s itinerary as much concerned with amorous conquests as the repair of stained-glass windows. There is the memoir of the English girl who became an actual friend of Napoleon Bonaparte’s during his final captivity on St. Helena; she played blind man’s bluff with him and cried at the news of his death.

Chief among these archival finds in my view — since it involved real historical sleuthing and mystery-solving on Robb’s part — is “the tree in the center of the country” that appeared as such on maps of France in the 16th and 17th centuries only thereafter to disappear. Legendarily a giant elm growing at the spot where joined the corners of four counties and under whose shade the noble counts were said to parley, Robb locates the remnants of a not-unlikely candidate in a spot -- now entirely obscure -- that in his telling sat on a once-upon-a-Hundred Years' War highway along the eastern boundary of English-controlled France and very close to the geographical center of the Frexagon.

For that really is the lingering impression of this book: in whatever ephemeral, run-of-the-mill place you happen to be, it may have been at one point either the location of a momentous event buried by the sands of time, or it may have been visited by — or was maybe even the home of — someone who enjoyed a moment of celebrity in some past era.

You never know when you will stumble upon such a place, either. A favorite example of mine was revived by this book in the chapter on the Tour de France, when the author cycles through the Jura city of Pontarlier -- apparently “the capital of absinthe” (you learn something new every day) -- on his way to the pass at the Cluse de Joux near the Swiss border. He doesn’t say this, but his ride that day would have taken him by the Chateau de Joux, formerly a fortress which imprisoned the self-surrendered revolutionary leader of Haiti, Toussaint Louverture, until his death. I know because one November day long ago I was piecing together a long-distance footpath through the mountains and almost literally stumbled upon it. Actually it was almost a long tumble down a steep scree-slope grazed by mountain goats. Nonetheless it represented the accidental discovery of a significant past buried by the successive tidal waves of human history, the very subject of Robb’s book.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m really glad I finally read this book! Really interesting topics and I like the structure of Robb describing being somewhere in bike before launching into history. Obviously well researched and it’s well explained to. I found once I was into the story I really had a great time with every chapter.

[Keen Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

“More French soldiers died in Rossignol on 22 August 1914 than on any other day in French history, before or since. More than 27’000 were killed in twelve hours, which is about half the number of American soldiers killed in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975. The average death rate was two French soldiers every three seconds.”

I’m far from being a Francophile, but if a book is written well enough you can be converted to almost anything…at least for the duration of the read. I enjoyed the chapters on both World Wars as well as the rather sad story of the Narcisse Pelletier (White Savage) and his experience of being stranded with a native tribe of Australian Aborigines.

The later chapters which touched on Gilets Jaunes and Charlie Hebdo were good value. Though possibly the biggest highlight was the chapter on Napoleon and particular his exile on St Helena in the South Atlantic where he met and befriended the young child, Betsy Balcombe. Who later wrote about the experience in her memoirs.

Robb clearly knows his subject, but I just couldn’t take to his style or delivery at all. There were many topics I thought would have been covered or explored in more depth, and too many of the digressions were dull or uninteresting. This could have been so many other, better things, and it felt like a squandered opportunity

[churrocaitie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a doozy.

I had trouble with this book, but majority of that came from my own brain’s fault. I’m not a naturally smart person and have a horrible memory. This didn’t serve me well in this read. I struggled with context and understanding of what was being discussed. And I already don’t know much about France’s history beyond high school’s AP Euro.

But!! The point of the book wasn’t to focus on France’s famous history but rather, as appropriately titled, the adventure histories. And that I loved. Almost loved too much, because I was sad when a topic/chapter would end. I wanted more depth with each adventure. I want to know more about the scandal of the Murder of Madame Bovary, more theories into The Tree at the Center of France, or simply more recounts of Robb’s own stories of visiting the hidden parts of France.

I craved more. And I had trouble with the read. But I did enjoy this book and hope that it’s a great launching point for me as I conquer more history books in my future!

[Margaret Wittke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book covers 2,000 years of French history from Gaul to the pandemic. Graham Robb bicycles through France, stopping in places and diving into a historical event that happened here. Some of the places and history are well know while others opens the door to obscure but very interesting footnotes of history. It is tough read if you are not acquainted with the geography of France. Thankfully, he supplies maps which help. Wikipedia was also helpful with time and characters that you might want more information on. I definitely will read his other book "The Discovery of France" which covers the French Revolution to World War I.

[E_F_S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Just meh. My lucky streak of great histories came to a sad and stilted end with "France".

Within the few 20 or pages, it appeared like it was written by Micheal Sheen's character in "Midnight in Paris". Pedantic. The words of the writer come across as some who actually does not like the French or France, but tries to pretend he does to get paid to write books.

[Sophie]

nothing adventurous at all, read like a textbook 😭

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

At one point in this book, Robb writes of the “underside” of history, a recognition that there is always more to discovered about the history of an country. What he has done in this informative and hugely entertaining book is to interest himself in an generally unknown area, open it up and relate it to the broader history of France. Robb is British but he has traveled extensively in France, much of it on a bicycle, and his starting points are always personal and based on what he has seen with his own eyes.

He divides his book into three loose chronological parts, “Ancient Gaul to the Renaissance,” “Louis XIV to the Second Empire,” and “The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Republics.” Ancient Gaul involved looking at very old maps and then trying to find modern traces, usually very faint, of travel routes and sometimes the mention of castkes and structures which have vanished, save for a location.

“Louis XIV to the Second Empire civers considerably shorter span time, roughly 200 years from the mid-1700’s. Robb digs up oddly interesting and little known details. He tells of the opening of Louis XIV’s gardens at Versailles which was overrun by a n unruly mob, a faint premonition of the revolution to come.

What more, after hundreds of books written about Napoleon Bonaparte can be said? Robb tells of Bonaparte in exile on St. Helena, relying on a memoir by Betsy Balcombe, a daughter of one of the British officials stationed there. She was a young girl and became friendly with Napoleon. He helped her with her French, and they played are usually dismissed, but Robb notes that she was honest and had no career nor political reputation to defend, as did many biographers of Napoleon.

I thought one of the most interesting stories was that of Louis Napoleon III, Bonaparte’s nephew, who took power in l848 and ruled until the defeat of the French in the Franco-German war of l870. At first, he was a bumbler and was exiled to England where he took up with Harriet Howard, a wealthy widow who bankrolled his return to France with an extensive public relations campaign that turned him into a populist hero. She has been largely forgotten, but Robb’s description of her relationship with Louis Napoleon makes her come alive, and Robb contends that without her Napoleon would have become a complete unknown.

I also found fascinating Robb’s description of how the Tour de France came to be such a huge event in France, one reason being that in its route across the country, it gave small towns and villages a sense of identity and pride that they were being noticed, however briefly.

Of France’s recent history of disiputes between the left and right, of violence against immigrants, and often flaring general populist grievances against the governments, Robb tries to put them in an historical context of France’s turbulent history. He darkly concludes by pointing out that in the future , French history will be distorted by myths, and that the historian “will have no choice but to set off on the darkening roads that stretch out before and behind us in the here and now.” In his small way, Robb has set off on some of those darkening roads and shed some light.

[Ingrid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Writing was boring and actual references to dates/general year ranges were limited, so even though the author went in chronological order for the chapters, it was hard to get context for what period he was even talking about at the start of each segment, especially when he was combining it with descriptions of his own multiple cycling tours throughout the French countryside. Also, he did that awful thing where every time a woman was mentioned it was either because 1) her ~*promiscuity*~ made her famous, or 2) She Died, ultimately impacting a man around her in some way. I got some good Wikipedia searches out of it, I guess, but not enough where I would recommend the book to others.

Only redeeming quality of the writing was perhaps that the author himself pointed out that he never tried to define what makes up French identity, which in my opinion, is a low bar to set for oneself. In general there was no engaging adventure to be had in reading this book, even his own cycling trip ends without any type of conclusion. :(

If a roadtrip through European history interests you, I would highly recommend reading In Europe: Travels Through the Twentieth Century instead. Covers a the European continent in a shorter timeframe, but really is a masterclass in the travelogue genre for historical nonfiction.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

TL;DR

France: An Adventure History by Graham Robb belongs on the shelf of any Francophile. This journey through the eras of French history is whimsical, nuanced, and memorable. Highly recommended.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.

Review - France: An Adventure History by Graham Robb

During the lockdown phase of Covid, my wife and I replaced our usual date nights – dinner and/or drinks out – with foreign language lessons. We chose French because our family’s heritage can be traced back to France. And because the Alliance Française St. Louis had online lessons. In addition to the language, we began to appreciate the culture, but France’s history wasn’t in our study plans. Other than Napoleon, the French Revolution, and Vichy France, I didn’t know much of anything about France’s history. When I got the opportunity to review Graham Robb’s France: An Adventure History, I was delighted. But I had no idea what was in store for me. Now I plan to seek out Mr. Robb’s other books on France.

Robb divided this history into three parts. The first stretches from ancient Gaul to the Renaissance; next, the second chronicles the time from Louis XIV to the Second Empire; and finally, part three covers the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Republics. Each section contains six essays relating to a specific moment in that history. Whether Julius Caesar staring at a hedge in ancient, northern Gaul or Napoleon Bonaparte’s remains in Rouen or the burkini ban, Robb’s insightful yet humorous approach to France’s history covers a wide array of topics without losing the focus on details. His essays are mostly history mixed with part memoir, part travelogue, and a decent amount of humor. Robb’s reminiscing his own adventures allows the reader some connection to the ancient histories he’s discussing. They’re also a reminder that this – as with all histories – is from a certain point of view.

France: An Adventure History is a non-fiction book that mixes third and first person in each of its essays. Instead of a distant view, coldly relating facts, Robb gets into the details of the people, describing sights, sounds, and smells. (He uses quotes to describe the Étang puant, Stinking Pond, a.k.a. the gardens of Versailles.) While he does cover the major periods of French history, Robb zooms in on certain moments. So, anyone looking for a survey of French history will be disappointed, but someone wishing to know how Caesar would approach the northern Gaul warriors or Michel Frédérick lost the Tour de France will find exquisite essays.

The Quest for a Tree

There are many wonderful essays here. I could probably write a separate review for each of the eighteen pieces in the book, but one essay continues to stand out in my mind. Robb goes in search of a tree that he first saw on a map from 1624, the Carte ecclésiastique. He finds this tree on other maps around that same time period. Underneath the tree, the caption mentions that it marks the boundaries of four adjacent provinces. Robb seeks out the tree in history and in present day. Based on clues he finds, he travels the countryside looking for this tree. Since this isn’t a movie, it’s not as cut and dry as finding the one piece that unlocks the exact location. Robb’s journey is not that of Indiana Jones in the The Last Crusade, but I found it equally as interesting in a wholly different way. This essay mixes his travel with explanation of the local history. We learn why a tree would touch four provinces and be important for a map. He looks for roads that might have been ancient Roman paths or supply routes during the Hundred Years War. He connects the land to its history in a way that made me want to fly to France and see if I could follow his trail.

Of all the essays in the book, this one felt most worthy of the adventure descriptor from the title. It was a realistic adventure. Nazis weren’t chasing him; the fate of the world didn’t depend on him finding the tree; and the hidden wealth of history wasn’t waiting for him in some secret location. Instead, it was a personal adventure. One that mattered to him and, by extension, to us. It was a treasure hunt in reality, but the reward was knowledge.

Ancient or Modern Times

Robb is without a doubt an expert on France and its history. This book, however, doesn’t limit itself to history. It contains a chronicling of modern events as well. There was no drop off in quality between the first and the last essay; each were as good as the last. Yet, the modern essays felt heavier. France’s struggles with terrorism and Islamophobia felt more weighty than the Cathars burying treasure, even though the Cathars were burned at the stake. Maybe this was just me. Maybe it’s just easier for me to connect to the Charlie Hebdo massacre than the Hundred Years War or Louis XIV in Flanders. This did nothing to decrease my enjoyment of the book.

I also read the book from essay one through the end. Could that have an effect? When I read it again – and I will read this book again – I might jump into one of the later essays first. I don’t know, though. I’d love to hear from other readers what they think. Did the later essays affect you in the same way?

Conclusion

Graham Robb’s France: An Adventure History is exactly the kind of history book I want to read. It’s not a survey; it plunges down into the lives of people to give immediacy to the moments and movements of France’s storied past and changing present. France: An Adventure History makes me want to do two things: 1) book a flight to France, and 2) buy all of his other books. France: An Adventure History is a book that belongs on any Francophile’s shelf. Highly recommended.

France: An Adventure History by Graham Robb is available from W.W. Norton & Co. on July 5th, 2022.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, especially while I’m traveling in France. Yet it didn’t really grab me. It felt a little random with the stories and I didn’t always get the connections from the present to the past story. Granted, I listened to this book, so I realize that at times I can get momentarily distracted. I am someone who enjoys reading classic style history nonfiction, so perhaps this style is just not for me. Regardless, I learned some interesting things, but mostly felt like this was a bit of a “People’s History of…” French history, yet not as compelling as Zinn’s work. Also, not necessarily meant to be. Not sure how else to explain this read.

[Peggy Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charmingly quirky and meandering exploration of two thousand years of French history anchored in its geography. I often had to reread sentences and even entire sections to extract the author’s point (and sometimes failed to do so!) but it was always worth a try. The chapters on Napoleon III, the Resistance during the Second World War and the final chapter were especially absorbing. This is an unconventional but fascinating and illuminating approach to telling the story of the French people, and well worth the effort.

[Jane Hoppe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graham Robb explains so much about how France became the country it is. In France: An Adventure History, he selects France's key events from the Roman Empire to the current era, gives facts in storytelling style, and adds color commentary.

I learned so much ... who, what, why, and how of religious wars, of the French Revolution, of the Tour de France and modern-day protests, of the French love of nature, to name a few topics covered by Robb. The bloody, barbaric parts of France's history were disturbing and left me with more questions than answers. But all in all, France: An Adventure History is a fascinating resource.

[Karla Molinar arvizo · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the beginning of the book is not the easier way to start, it is not a true indication of the strength of this book. Like many readers noted, the first third of the book is not the strongest. However, more than once I chocked up by the rawness of the stories pulled from this book. The book does an excellent job at anchoring the histories of those at the margins in the history of France and for that it was an incredibly enriching reading.




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[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. Maybe 3.5? Very well written but hard to follow in parts. Maybe too well written. I found the history disjointed and although thoroughly researched - I found it too post modern for historical writing. Maybe I am finally getting old. In Reading preferences...

[Claire Baxter · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a DNF from me. Found it neither interesting as a travel guide and too disjointed as a history. Nice idea for a book but it didn't work for me.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read about the history of the formation of the country of France.

[Stuart Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather difficult to describe, this is not any kind of traditional history but an account of the author's bicycle travels through France to relatively remote places where somewhat obscure events took place that illuminate aspects of French culture. I think this would appeal to those who already have a general knowledge of France. If you are looking for a general overview of the history of the country, you would be better served by more traditional works.

[Ендіс Рафаїлович · Rating 4 out of 5]

Доволі незвичайна книга по історії, точніше збірник історій. Після ознайомлення з загальною історіє країни книга читається куди легше, проте все ще є але. Читається дуже легко, так як написана в вільному форматі, хоча й через це деяким вона може не сподобатися, проте на широку аудиторію й для легкого розслабленого читання книга підходить(звичайно ж якщо вона знає історію країни..). Проте не без але, автор дуже часто детально описує якийсь краєвид, або взагалі конкретну місцину, й не те щоб у мене географічний кретинізм, я просто не знаю більшість місць з цього регіону. А так, 8,5-9/10.

[Andrew LaPrade · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was a tough read. Really dry (had to skim a lot and skipped some chapters). Going through the timeline and looking stuff up on Wikipedia was probably the most entertaining part for me.

A lot of content seemed random, and I’m curious who the target audience is for this book (besides the author)

Looks nice on my bookshelf

[OGEE Substack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovingly written, rambling, loose. It has some interesting tidbits but I thought it lacked cohesion.

[Ebrown3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.2 ⭐️

[Bookreporter.com Biography & Memoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

FRANCE is an entertaining, though demanding, history of France, from the first-century BC to the present day. It is based on author Graham Robb’s 30 years of exploring the country as an intrepid bicyclist and researcher.

Especially in the early chapters, readers will want to refer to both the maps at the back of the book and a contemporary map in order to understand where the various invaders and tribes were positioned. There are also “Notes for Travellers” for those who want to retrace Robb’s steps.

While each chapter is a self-contained story, within those chapters the narrative moves between Robb and his wife Margaret’s adventures and those that took place hundreds of years earlier. His observations about France are fascinating. He talks about why the southeast is more violent than other parts of the country; how anti-clericalism existed long before, and after, the Revolution; and why the country’s obsession with Paris’s predominance from the 12th century to the present was in part the result of how much writing about France --- literary, historiographical, legal --- emanated from the City of Light. He uses the journal of 18th-century Paris-born wanderer Jacques-Louis Ménétra to illustrate his point.

Robb is not afraid to weigh in on contemporary issues such as climate change and rampant development, as well as politics. In his chapter on Napoleon, he notes: “He was the man whose patriotism was served by wiliness and steely charm combined with ruthless determination --- which is why the epithet napoléonien is applied to Presidents Mitterrand, Sarkozy and Macron rather than to General de Gaulle.”

Robb is an obsessive researcher. In discussing the Cathars, he describes maps that feature a particular tree, then shows all the guidebooks and maps from the 16th century on featuring that tree. While readers will find the usual faces, events and themes of French history --- Louis XIV, the French Revolution, the Vichy regime and La Résistance, the Tour de France --- many new events, locales and individuals are explored as well.

Part travelogue and part essay, this is a lively and thought-provoking homage to the complex and inimitable country that is France.

Reviewed by Lorraine W. Shanley