Product Description

This book provides a clear and well-informed guide to French history from the early Middle Ages to the present - from Charlemagne to Chirac. It offers the most up-to-date and comprehensive study of French history available. Among the book's central themes are the relationship between state and society, the impact of war and such crucial questions as who possessed political power and how this power was used. It takes account of the great figures in French history, among which Philip Augustus, Henri IV, Louis XIV, Robespierre, Napoleon, de Gaulle and also the findings of social historians concerned with ordinary people, social structures, beliefs, and economic activity. This second edition, substantially re-written to take account of recent research, includes a new chapter on contemporary France - a society and political system in crisis as a result of globalisation, international terrorism, racial tension and a loss of confidence in political leaders.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #149741 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 504 pages

Review
‘… coherent and eminently readable. It is a major - indeed unique - achievement.’ The Times Higher Education Supplement

‘... a remarkably succinct story.’ John Wright, BBC

About the Author
Roger Price is Professor of History at the University of Wales. He has written extensively on French history; his latest publications include The French Second Empire:an Anatomy of Political Power (2001) and People and Politics in France, 1848–1870 (2004).

Customer Reviews

Great intro
A really useful introduction to French History, expertly written, but suceeds in being very user friendly. Would highly recommend

A missed opportunity
Having found the Cambridge Concise History of Germany eminently readable I was easily tempted to try Roger Price's one volume history of France. As it turned out I found the book an extremely disappointing, and I should say, frustrating read. It doesn't quite do what it says on the tin. First, potential readers should be aware that while Price is strong on painting the background scenes which are a necessary condition of historical action, he is weaker in discerning and communicating a clear and comprehensible historical narrative. History as story, one damned thing after another, is, of course, not sufficient to gain an understanding of the past. However, it is, I would argue, a necessary condition. And story telling is not Roger Price's forte.

The other niggling aspect of the book is that it is unbalanced. Anyone interested in medieval history will definitely be disappointed. A mere 95 pages out of the 464 are devoted to the period prior to 1789. And, at least for me, there is simply far too much detailed history of contemporary France. If you find tables of French election results in the nineteen eighties your cup of tea, then well and good. But if not, I'd steer clear.

To conclude, Price is a knowledgeable and talented historian but in this book he may have benefited from a more wily editor at Cambridge.

worth persevering with
Don't be put off by the introduction. The publisher used a good editor for the rest of the book. Once you get past the heavy jargon laden prose in the introduction, the rest of the book is readable and gives an understanding of why modern French workers will place bombs in a factory to get improved redundancy terms, and students and school children will hold national demonstrations against changes in syllabuses.