La Belle France : A Short History

517 Pages·2006·7.8 MB·English

by  Alistair Horne

Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Praise
Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
ONE - Beginnings: Caesar to the Capetians
TWO - A Golden Age: Abelard to Philippe-Auguste
THREE - Middle Ages: “Saint-Louis” to Philippe le Bel
FOUR - The Second “100 Years’ War”: France Survives and Joins the
Renaissance
FIVE - Henri II’s Succession: The Wars of Religion
SIX - Henri IV: Good Sense and Good Taste
SEVEN - Louis XIII: Richelieu to the Fronde
EIGHT - The Age of Louis XIV
NINE - Louis XV: Towards the Deluge
TEN - The Great Revolution
ELEVEN - The Age of Napoleon
TWELVE - Restoration and Revolt
THIRTEEN - Empire and Siege
FOURTEEN - The Belle Epoque and the Road to War
FIFTEEN - The Great War and Versailles
SIXTEEN - Years of Illusion
SEVENTEEN - The Darkest Years
EIGHTEEN - After the Liberation
NINETEEN - The General’s Republic
TWENTY - Another New Start: Pompidou to Mitterrand
ENDNOTES
SOURCE NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PHOTO INSERT
About the Author
ALSO BY ALISTAIR HORNE
Copyright Page
For Bobbie Richards—without whose unstinting support,
over many years, nothing would ever be written
PRAISE FOR ALISTAIR HORNE AND La Belle France
“How much happier life would be if one could read
books as riveting as Alistair Horne’s . . . every week of
the year. Horne has a masterful way of infusing grand
historical themes with rich narrative detail.”
—Francine du Plessix Gray
“Horne [is] one of the most graceful and satisfying of historians.”
—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“The writing is sharp, the pace terrific and hardly a page turns without leaving a
memorable detail or telling phrase to savour. Horne in top form is not to be
missed. A full-throated wonderfully readable chronicle.”
—The Independent (London)
“A fluid, graceful, deliberate prose stylist. . . . Horne’s purpose is not to be
encyclopedic but to paint a portrait, and this he does surpassingly well.”
—The Washington Post Book World
“This is the history of France one has always wanted—erudite, affectionate,
vastly entertaining and carried along with Tolstoyan sweep as all the characters
leap to life.”
—The Daily Telegraph (London) “Horne [possesses] broad erudition and [an]
intense feel for French history.”
—The Washington Times