'Authoritative, well-written, solidly thought through, this book, which has no equivalent in recent writing about French history, should reach out beyond the British Isles to the English-speaking world in its entirety.' Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie 'An awesome range of topics ... the book is a veritable tour de force.' French Cultural Studies 'Good one-volume histories of France are not all that common, and after this one they might well become less so. This is because it is hard to see how it might be bettered ... this book will be the obvious starting point for years to come for anglophones everywhere who want to know about the history of France.' French Studies
