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A global history of the world’s most visited country—from Caesar’s Gallic Wars to current political crisis
France has long been feted for its unsurpassed cultural and historical riches. Gothic architecture, Louis XIV opulence, revolutionary spirit, café society . . . what could be more quintessentially French? Rarely do we think of France as a melting pot, and yet historian Colin Jones asserts it’s no less a mélange of foreign ingredients than the United States—and by some measures, more so.
The Shortest History of France reveals a nation whose politics and society have always been shaped by global forces. With up-to-date scholarship that avoids the traps of national exceptionalism, Jones reminds us that it was only after the first millennium of French history—after constant subjugation to the Roman Empire and Germanic tribal forces—that a nation-state began to emerge, while absorbing influences from its European neighbors. Later, the Crusades and subsequent overseas colonization paved the way for cultural exchange with Africa, the Caribbean, East Asia, and elsewhere.
France has been home to the Enlightenment, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Paris Agreement . . . but also to the Vichy regime, the Algerian War, and persistent racism and civil unrest. By turns serious and spirited, The Shortest History of France is a dynamic, global story for our times.
“Colin Jones is not only one of the greatest living historians of France, but a terrific writer who has distilled a remarkable quantity of learning, insight, and wit into this concise and wonderfully readable volume. There is no better starting point for readers interested in the history of France and its overseas empires.”—David A. Bell, author of Napoleon and Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Era of North Atlantic Revolutions, Princeton University
“Colin Jones has proven that ‘shortest’ can rhyme with ‘best.’ Anyone curious about France’s long and remarkable history should grab this book. Its style is clear, down-to-earth, and totally absorbing.”—Don and Petie Kladstrup, authors of Wine & War
“Moving at the speed of a TGV, and drawing on his deep knowledge of France and its past, Jones deploys his writing talent to show how the history of ‘the Hexagon’ has always been intimately connected to developments in other parts of Europe and the world.”—Jeremy D. Popkin, author of A New World Begins and William T. Bryan Chair of history (emeritus), University of Kentucky
“Vital, incisive, revelatory . . .”—Hilary Mantel on 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris
“The historian Colin Jones has a gift for examining events afresh.”—New Statesman on The Fall of Robespierre
“A marvelous, engaging, and constantly enlightening story.”—Literary Review, on The Smile Revolution
