La Belle France: A Short History

A book review from The Movie Snob

La Belle France: A Short History, by Alistair Horne (2005). Even at 440 pages, this book has to leave a lot out. It is basically a history of Paris and the kings of France, rather than a history of France as a whole, and for fun, breezy history, you could do much worse. Horne basically starts his history in the Middle Ages; by page 15 we are already in the 12th century. As the book goes on, the pace gradually slows down, and the last 130+ pages are devoted to WWI and thereafter. And we are swept along, generally from one hapless, hopeless monarch to the next, with only the rare decent king to provide a few decades of peace and prosperity before the next descent into religious or economic chaos. Horne provides lots of colorful descriptions of the stars of his history, many from contemporary sources. (Example: when Napoleon's ministers Fouche and Talleyrand once entered a room arm-in-arm, an observer remarked that it was "A vision of Vice supported by Crime.") In short, this is an interesting and enjoyable read if popular history is your thing.