| The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography Contributor(s): Robb, Graham (Author) |
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ISBN: 0393333647 ISBN-13: 9780393333640 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company OUR PRICE: $17.06 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2008 Annotation: A narrative of exploration, this historical geography explains how the modern nation of France came to be and how poorly understood that nation still is today. Above all, it shows how much of France--past and present--remains to be discovered. Illustrated. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Europe - France - History | Historical Geography |
| Dewey: 944 |
| Physical Information: 1.2" H x 5.48" W x 8.25" (0.88 lbs) 496 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - French - Chronological Period - 1900-1919 - Chronological Period - 18th Century - Chronological Period - 19th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: A narrative of exploration--full of strange landscapes and even stranger inhabitants--that explains the enduring fascination of France. While Gustave Eiffel was changing the skyline of Paris, large parts of France were still terra incognita. Even in the age of railways and newspapers, France was a land of ancient tribal divisions, prehistoric communication networks, and pre-Christian beliefs. French itself was a minority language. Graham Robb describes that unknown world in arresting narrative detail. He recounts the epic journeys of mapmakers, scientists, soldiers, administrators, and intrepid tourists, of itinerant workers, pilgrims, and herdsmen with their millions of migratory domestic animals. We learn how France was explored, charted, and colonized, and how the imperial influence of Paris was gradually extended throughout a kingdom of isolated towns and villages. The Discovery of France explains how the modern nation came to be and how poorly understood that nation still is today. Above all, it shows how much of France--past and present--remains to be discovered. A New York Times Notable Book, Publishers Weekly Best Book, Slate Best Book, and Booklist Editor's Choice. |
Contributor Bio(s): Robb, Graham: - 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. |