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| | Location: Home » Europe Travel » General AAS » The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, from the Revolution to the First World War | December 1, 2008 |
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| The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, from the Revolution to the First World War | 
 enlarge | Author: Graham Robb
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $12.89
You Save: $15.06 (54%)
Buy New/Used from $10.89
Avg. Customer Rating:  (26 reviews)
Sales Rank: 62573
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.6
ISBN: 0393059731
Dewey Decimal Number: 944
EAN: 9780393059731
ASIN: 0393059731
Publication Date: October 29, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Man on Bicycle March 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I thought this book was going to be some lost Phoenician or Roman giving us the landing of traders or invaders on the S.E. coast by present day Narbonne. Instead, an author, well accomplished in other types of writing, has presented a whole new vision. That panorama is in fact quite fragmented; a view of a country that never really was a country or a people. Mr. Robb pedals his gleanings, as it were, against the nationalist lore and myth, shows us the isolated pockets and where evident, their nearest neighbors.
I knew by my own plodding over the years, that south was more separate from north than in the United States, though there was not one civil war to decide anything, but many wars moving to their revolution over centuries.
My previous intellectual guide has been Braudel. His volumes on the identity of France formed my understanding before many extended trips there. I found his great studies to be true, so far as a limited agent such as I could discern. I had my maps and his, so I could observe roofing materials in each region. They still are true; Robb gives due credit to Braudel. But now the veil has lifted from that great man's work. We are presented with a new level of observance and insight.
But these accounts of fragmentation, solitude and silence formed for me a whole new aspect to my understanding. Yes I knew about the major dialects aside from the three major languages. Yet a fourth language group appears! But he maps them. He gives us a few comparative tables to see the words morph every few dozen kilometers.
I expect this work will give rise to a hundred more narrow and detailed projects. His boundaries of humble villager's travels indeed extend about and only so far as any local yeast. Nice to read and nice as a preparation for travel.
If you thought you knew everything about France, think again. March 16, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
For those who have visited, studied, and reflected on that immensely fascinating country called France, Robb's book provides a truly unique and informative view of the country's recent history that stands alone when compared to other recent histories of France. The book categorizes its own genre as "historical geography," but even if you've never read one of those, just dive in and watch the story unfold.
Much of France's mystique is based on the rich and iconographic legends surrounding the country's rise and development. It's perhaps easy to think that, once we have learned the main themes, we have "learned" the country. These main themes are indeed incredibly interesting in their own right: the rise of Charlemagne and the establishment of the Carolingian Empire, the development of educational institutions such as the cathedral schools and the university, the creation of premier architectural forms such as Early, High, Rayonnant, and Flamboyant Gothic styles, the rise of the Napoleonic Empire, the many artistic contributions of persons from all parts of the country, and the undeniable scientific advances made by the French in last three centuries. And yet, we find upon reading Robb's book that it is possible to know a little about all these things and perhaps not still have an understanding of how the France that we know today really came to be. It's a story interesting, surprising, and unusual, but it's a story worth telling, and it helps make all the rest of the story make even more sense.
Robb's text deals with the period between the French Revolution and the emergence of the 20th century. As such, the author particularly focuses on how the governmental programs initiated immediately after the Revolution impacted the lives of virtually every person in the country. Indeed, much of Robb's book argues that, prior to these events, France existed in a set of disparate and non-standardized "pays," with even such basics as language and weights and measures existing in unique forms in virtually every region. The text helps us hypothesize why the French people feel the way they do about their language, their way of life, and even their political and educational institutions.
The entire book is consistently fascinating, but those who have travelled to France over the years should find the later part of the book of special and curious interest, for it is here that Robb describes the rise of tourism in France, and the effect that these new creatures called "tourists" had on the country. It's a cart-before-the-horse story, where we see the country adapting to tourism, rather than tourists adapting to the county. In a way, we can see that the tourist played his own special role in the preservation of France's historical and cultural sites, and it is simply engrossing to read the symbiotic relationship France and its tourists had, and still have today.
If you speak French, or if you're just an armchair admirer of the French language, reading Robb's description of how the French language came to be the established standard tongue all over the country is surely one of the greatest highlights of this book. For the historian, this story is one that is rarely told, and holds a set of people, places, and governmental programs not normally considered in more traditional French history books. For the educator, the ability to follow the story of how the government worked in concert with local educational centers to advance and stabilize all regions in France into French speaking domains must surely rank as one of the premier examples of the power of educational programs. Don't miss it.
Every Francophile will wish to consider this new entry into the historical collection of French history books. Don't be surprised if you end up with a renewed interest in what is already a fascinating history. Highly recommended.
Sprawling history; informative and entertaining . . a keeper. March 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Appreciation of France and its history can be constrained by the translation factor. Non French speakers are limited to translations from French or texts written in English by Francophones. Graham Robb, obviously the latter, well serves the reader by his writing and research; the bulk of which is French. He brings with him his biographies of Balzac, Hugo and Rimbaud. Borrowing a page from Fernand Braudel, he ignores kings, revolutions, elections and wars to craft a history of the dialects of the language, the French people, their adaptation to the physical nature of the land and their work.
From the building and importance of the Canal du Midi, to the Gorges de Verdon, to Cassini's maps, Prosper Merrimee, the transhumance of its people and livestock, the tidbits of this history beguile and tantalize the reader. Robb''s thesis is that France was kept together by "the ant like activity of the small landholders" rather than "the grand schemes of Napoleon." He debunks some old chestnuts; the poplars and plane trees of France were not planted to offer shade for the French troops but because they just looked nice to the French. He views France from the eye of a cyclist, a hobby he admits to in the beginning. At the end, to give cycling its own historical significance, his short history of the Tour de France adds to France's sense of nationhood. Some writing is so tight packed that the reader retraces his words to get Robb's nuanced phrases. This is a book to hold in one's library and savor it once again before that next trip to la belle France.
 The rest of France March 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is about France outside Paris, and more than a century ago. It reveals a strange, primitive place, with few connections to the outside world and where few people speak French. This is about the peasants and their lives, not about important people or national events.
All together now! February 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an absolutely fascinating study of how the bits and pieces of "proto-France" were turned into the culture we know today (and assume always, sort of, at least recently, existed). I had no idea how many disparate bits there were. I understand better now the sense of strangeness I've had in small villages in the south of France, and the challenge of the regional accents. Beautifully researched, analyzed, and written. Required reading. Just brilliant.
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