I still frequently refer back to, and read through chapters, of this tremendously well written work although it is nearly 40 years old. Were I to recommend a single historian and social critic of France and the French that person would be the late Albert Guerard.
In his long writing career, Prof. Guerard authored a number of excellent books and this one is the broadest in scope but the single best starting point, despite its age, for anyone seriously interested in French history, society and biography. It is a book that will establish a firm historically integrated and contextual foundation into which one may delve into France not only through other books written by Prof. Guerard, but the books reviewed and referred to by him.
Any reading list found in any book by Albert Guerard is a launching point into excellent learning in any area of French studies. Prof. Guerard's reading lists in his many works introduced me to H. Taine and Jules Michelet too -- writers supplanted by later authors, but still very edifying.
Albert Guerard's work is not only an excellent history, with salient commentary, it is also an example of superb, elegant writing. His style is rarely matched in beauty and richness while never digressing from the subject. His other works share this writing style and the reader may just decide (rightly, I think) to avidly pursue a study of France just to develop a core collection of books written or suggested by Prof. Guerard.
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2008
