France: An Adventure History

Graham Robb has written many history books concerning French history and culture. All of these have been lauded with high critical acclaim, and this one is no exception. So read it.

The books is written in a unique style, focusing on people’s stories rather than events. He also integrated anecdotes about his travels through the areas. It was interesting and not a dry history book.

No, this is not a complete history of France. It is an "adventure" history, as Graham Robb titles it. He is a terrific writer who chooses happenings from Julius Caesa, Napoleon, the French Revolution and the French Resistance in World War 11. He has dipped into the amazing history of France and found many jewels. And he is such an entertaining writer that you come away having learned a lot in the most pleasurable way.

Lots to learn about France in a fast fun way. Great read mixing the old and new

Learn more about the history of France.

I was very disappointed in this book. I was looking forward to a pleasing mix of history and travel and instead I got a poorly written and uninteresting book. The first 100 pages are nearly impossible to get through.

Robb has the ability to uncover an interesting viewpoint in whichever direction he casts his eye. He presents entertaining connections between events across place and time in France, skilfully weaving them in to a fascinating whole. And all this is infused with wry humour, objectivity and the occasional nudge at the hubris of power. He can connect graffiti in a lonely bus shelter to the Great Fear of 1789 (who’d have thought!) - he uncovers a fascinating story in everything he sees. This is a great talent, and shows us that our world is so much more interesting and meaningful when we make the effort to look a little bit deeper. Being perched on a bicycle saddle also helps.

It’s worth saying that the book examines history differently than many other books. Different chapters look at specific areas of France and focus on specific periods of time and on specific people. The advantage of this is that it allows a deep dive into certain aspects of history. On the other hand, the book only discusses that specific time period in that area and not other time periods in the same area. So while the book progresses chronologically, there are huge gaps. I liked the entertaining personal anecdotes which made the book more fun to read. But I found the language much too formal. Overall the book covered certain aspects very well, but suffers from huge gaps in history and the writing was overly complex but is still worthwhile reading. Thank you to Netgalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the digital review copy.

Great read for a cold winter's day!

Libro di lettura abbastanza facile di soggetto presentato in modo originale, cioè saltando di località e periodi diversi.

Excellent insight into the french character and why the republic struggles to unite people.

I am struggling with this as the early chapters did not grab my attention. It gets better when it reaches the 16th C. I liked his other books about France but this is more difficult to get into

NA.