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The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War, by Graham Robb
Get Free Ebook The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War, by Graham Robb
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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. France is often regarded as the center of elegant civilization, so it's surprising to find that as late as 1890, most of the population was far from civilized—outside the confines of sophisticated Paris, as noted biographer Robb explains in his riveting exploration of France's historical geography, great swathes of countryside were terra incognita: dark places inhabited by illiterate tribes professing pre-Christian beliefs and lethally hostile to outsiders. They spoke not French but regional dialects; much of the country had not been accurately mapped; and many in the rural areas lacked surnames. The author himself embarked on a 14,000-mile bicycle tour of the France passed over in tourist guides. The result is a curious, engrossing mix of personal observation, scholarly diligence and historical narrative as Robb discusses the formation of both the French character and the French state. Robb's biographies of Victor Hugo, Rimbaud and Balzac were all selected by the New York Times as among the best books of the year, an accolade that assures a select readership will be eager to pack his newest alongside their Michelin guides. 8 pages of b&w illus, maps. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Best-selling author Graham Robb was born in Manchester in 1958 and is a former Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. He is an acclaimed historian and biographer, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has won the Whitbread Biography Prize and the Heinemann Award for Victor Hugo, as well as the Ondaatje Prize and Duff Cooper Prize for The Discovery of France. His book Parisians was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. He lives on the Anglo-Scottish border.
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Product details
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (October 17, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0393059731
ISBN-13: 978-0393059731
Product Dimensions:
6.5 x 1.4 x 9.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.2 out of 5 stars
151 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#635,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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.
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.
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.
This book, in just a few days has given me answers I was searching for...Human beings are evolutionary and this book gives some of the European history...if the history of our African beginnings. That being said, I have out the library copy, after hearing Rick Steves and Graham Robb on a Sunday morning talk show.I have just bought a copy on Amazon, because I want to be able to write in my personal copy.A question I held for so long about how humans in America could do what they did to so called human African Slaves.? This is not new history. "You have to be carefully taught".Why are the Parisians today so afraid of communities? depends on what it took to unite all the tribes to form FRANCE.So,thanks to Rick Steves and Graham Robb and Amazon....You have all been a blessing to me this week,Merci, Jacquelyn Goudeau
This book combines the authors obvious passion for both geography and history. I read it almost non stop - now I only want to go to France and spend a few months or so walking leisurely between some of the villages and landscapes noted by the author. Previously I read his book The Discovery of Middle Earth describing the ancient Gaullic road systems-- --- both were clearly written and a pleasure to read while referring to a good map- a sense of wonderment is projected is by the author that I found contagious. - Excellant!
The author cites an 1880 survey that revealed that nearly 80% of the population of France could not communicate fluently in the French. This is not your school book history of the France of Louis XIV, the Revolution, Napoleon, Victor Hugo and Claude Monet - basically, Paris. This is an eye-opening history of the French provinces, which was essentially a foreign country to Parisians. The author takes some senseless swipes at Christianity and the Catholic Church, but that doesn't detract too much from this book overall.
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