The History of Modern France
From the Revolution to the War on Terror
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- CHF 11.00
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- CHF 11.00
Beschreibung des Verlags
With the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, the next two centuries for France would be tumultuous. Bestselling historian and political commentator Jonathan Fenby provides an expert and riveting journey through this period as he recounts and analyses the extraordinary sequence of events of this period from the end of the First Revolution through two others, a return of Empire, three catastrophic wars with Germany, periods of stability and hope interspersed with years of uncertainty and high tensions. As her cross-Channel neighbour Great Britain would equally suffer, France was to undergo the wrenching loss of colonies in the post-Second World War as the new modern world we know today took shape. Her attempts to become the leader of the European union is a constant struggle, as was her lack of support for America in the two Gulf Wars of the past twenty years. Alongside this came huge social changes and cultural landmarks but also fundamental questioning of what this nation, which considers itself exceptional, really stood - and stands - for. That saga and those questions permeate the France of today, now with an implacable enemy to face in the form of Islamic extremism which so bloodily announced itself this year in Paris. Fenby will detail every event, every struggle and every outcome across this expanse of 200 years. It will prove to be the definitive guide to understanding France.
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In this unsatisfying history, Fenby (Will China Dominate the 21st Century?), a British financial consultant and former journalist, aims to illuminate France's apparent 21st-century cultural, political, and economic "morosit " by digging into its past. He subscribes to the hoary notion, widely shared on both sides of the Atlantic, that France remains caught in the tension between the poles of the French Revolution: order and liberty, the past and the present. "More than most nations, France carries the weight of its history in its view of itself," Fenby offers as an unverifiable platitude. Though his organizing idea that France always pits "the two sides descended from the Revolution against one another" is conventional, he relates the history of the Gallic people since 1789 in jaunty style. The events of over two centuries come thick and fast; unsurprisingly, his pages accumulate too much detail as he approaches the present. But his humorous stories (mostly of the mighty) are delightful. Belying the book's light touch, Fenby ends on a rueful note that "the French have become prisoners of the heritage of their past." Is that what distinguishes French history from other nations' histories? It's not convincing. One wishes that Fenby had found a fresher way to see things.
