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Loading... The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, from the Revolution to…by Graham Robb
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. 1   LynnB | Oct 2, 2009 |  A wonderful reflection on French history and the myths of French unity. nico_macdonald | Aug 10, 2009 | A singular account of the history of France and its many, different peoples, told from the perspective of a frequent visitor with access to a bike. There are many surprises in store for the casual reader. I shall probably buy this. xnfec | Jun 10, 2009 | Not so much a history, although it certainly is that, more a lecture from the bar-room bore that draws one in on a wave of fascinating facts. Robb weaves a stream of consciousness leading from one subject to another through a series of 'Did you know...?' revelations. This book is a clear service to all countries in revealing the sham that is the glorious and heroic vision of the French fatherland stretching back into pre-history. Is this the first history of France where Paris hardly rates a mention? (  )2 pierthinker | Jan 25, 2009 | An interesting and often entertaining tour through the byways of French social history, eschewing the boulevards and faubourgs of Paris for the obscure reaches of France profonde. Graham shows how the history of 'the provinces' has been consistently suppressed in favour of the history of Paris, and how much we think we know of France is actually only what we know of Paris. (  ) sloopjonb | Sep 21, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
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(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:04 -0400)
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Graham Robb has written a sweeping account of France's provinces (outside of Paris): the people, the geography, the history. But he jumps around so much in both time and space that I was often confused. And, without a good map as a reference point, I often didn't know where I was even when the context was otherwise clear.
Parts of the book were fascinating, but others were mind-numbingly dull. But, it's the kind of book where you can skip parts without missing information vital to the next section, which I didn't do because I read it for a book club discussion.
I learned some interesting facts, but not enough to make me glad I struggled through the full 358 pages of text. (