The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography PDF Download

Author: Graham Robb
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393068825
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
"A witty, engaging narrative style…[Robb's] approach is particularly engrossing." —New York Times Book Review 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.

Author: Graham Robb
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9780330427616
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
From maps, migration and magic, to linguistic differences and tribal disputes, The Discovery of France tells the whole story of this remarkable - and surprising - country.

Author: Graham Robb
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393333647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description
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.

Author: Xavier de Planhol
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521322089
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 602

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Book Description
In this 1994 book, Xavier de Planhol and Paul Claval, two of France's leading scholars in the field, trace the historical geography of their country from its roots in the Roman province of Gaul to the 1990s. They demonstrate how, for centuries, France was little more than an ideological concept, despite its natural physical boundaries and long territorial history. They examine the relatively late development of a more complex territorial geography, involving political, religious, cultural, agricultural and industrial unities and diversities. The conclusion reached is that only in the twentieth century had France achieved a profound territorial unity and only now are the fragmentations of the past being overwritten.

Author: Henry Clifford Darby
Publisher: University of Exeter Press
ISBN: 9780859896993
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
This set of twelve previously unpublished essays on historical geography written by Darby in the 1960s explains the basis of his ideas. The essays are divided into three quartets of studies relating to England, France and the United States.

Author: Graham Robb
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 039308163X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Describes a discovery the author made in the Alps, which uncovered a treasure trove of Druid celestial mathematics that mapped out the entire geography of ancient Europe, and discusses the implications of this new information.

Author: Graham Robb
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1529007631
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
A SPECTATOR and PROSPECT Book of 2022 'Ceaselessly interesting, knowledgeable and evocative' - Spectator 'A fresh way to write history' - Alan Johnson 'A quirky, amused, erudite homage to France . . . ambitious and original' - The Times _____ Original, knowledgeable and endlessly entertaining, France: An Adventure History is an unforgettable journey through France from the first century BC to the present day. Drawn from countless new discoveries and thirty years of exploring France on foot, in the library and across 30,000 miles on the author’s beloved bike, it begins with Gaulish and Roman times and ends in the age of #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, the Gilets Jaunes and Covid-19. From the plains of Provence to the slums and boulevards of Paris, events and themes of French history may be familiar – Louis XIV, the French Revolution, the French Resistance, the Tour de France – but all are presented in a shining new light. Frequently hilarious, always surprising, this is a sweeping panorama, teeming with characters, stories and coincidences, and offering a thrilling sense of discovery and enlightenment. A vivid, living history of one of the world’s most fascinating nations, it will make even seasoned Francophiles wonder if they really know that terra incognita which is currently referred to as ‘France’. _____ ‘Packed full of discoveries’ - The Sunday Times 'A gorgeous tapestry of insights, stories and surprises' - Fintan O'Toole 'A rich and vibrant narrative . . . clear-eyed but imaginative storytelling' - Financial Times 'Full of life' - Prospect

Author: Richard Campanella
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807173665
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
The West Bank has been a vital part of greater New Orleans since the city’s inception, serving as its breadbasket, foundry, shipbuilder, railroad terminal, train manufacturer, and even livestock hub. At one time it was the Gulf South’s St. Louis, boasting a diversified industrial sector as well as a riverine, mercantilist, and agricultural economy. Today the mostly suburban West Bank is proud but not pretentious, pleasant if not prominent, and a distinct, affordable alternative to the more famous neighborhoods of the East Bank. Richard Campanella is the first to examine the West Bank holistically, as a legitimate subregion with its own story to tell. No other part of greater New Orleans has more diverse yet deeply rooted populations: folks who speak in local accents, who exhibit longstanding cultural traits, and, in some cases, who maintain family ownership of lands held since antebellum times—even as immigrants settle here in growing numbers. Campanella demonstrates that West Bankers have had great agency in their own place-making, and he challenges the notion that their story is subsidiary to a more important narrative across the river. The West Bank of Greater New Orleans is not a traditional history, nor a cultural history, but rather a historical geography, a spatial explanation of how the West Bank’s landscape formed: its terrain, environment, land use, jurisdictions, waterways, industries, infrastructure, neighborhoods, and settlement patterns, past and present. The book explores the drivers, conditions, and power structures behind those landscape transformations, using custom maps, aerial images, photographic montages, and a detailed historical timeline to help tell that complex geographical story. As Campanella shows, there is no “greater New Orleans” without its cross-river component. The West Bank is an essential part of this remarkable metropolis.

Author: Graham Robb
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1509803483
Category : Bicycle touring
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
France is a country famous for its intellectuals, its philosophers and writers, its fashion, food and wine. And yet the notion of 'the French' as one nation is relatively recent and -- historically speaking -- quite misleading. In order to discover the 'real' past of France, Graham Robb realised it was not only necessary to go back in time, but also to go at a slower pace than modern life generally allows. The Discovery of France, illuminating, engrossing and full of surprises, is the result of Robb's 14,000 mile journey across France on a bicycle. A modern non-fiction classic, a literary exploration of a remarkable nation. From maps and migration to magic, language and landscape, it reveals a France few will recognise.

Author: Graham Robb
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324002573
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
A wholly original history of France, filled with a lifetime’s knowledge and passion—by the author of the New York Times bestseller Parisians. Beginning with the Roman army’s first recorded encounter with the Gauls and ending in the era of Emmanuel Macron, France takes readers on an endlessly entertaining journey through French history. Frequently hilarious, always surprising, Graham Robb’s France combines the stylistic versatility of a novelist with the deep understanding of a scholar. Robb’s own adventures and discoveries while living, working, and traveling in France connect this tour through space and time with on-the-ground experience. There are scenes of wars and revolutions from the plains of Provence to the slums and boulevards of Paris. Robb conveys with wit and precision what it felt like to look over the shoulder of a young Louis XIV as he planned the vast garden of Versailles, and the dangerous thrill of having a ringside seat at the French revolution. Some of the protagonists may be familiar, but appear here in a very different light—Caesar, Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon Bonaparte, General Charles de Gaulle. This extraordinary narrative is the fruit of decades of research and thirty thousand miles on a self-propelled, two-wheeled time machine (a bicycle). Even seasoned Francophiles will wonder if they really know that terra incognita on the edge of Europe that is currently referred to as “France.”