Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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A radical guide to Paris through art, literature and revolution.The Invention of Paris is a tour through the streets and history of the capital under the guidance of radical Parisian author and publisher Eric Hazan.

Hazan introduces a city whose squares echo with the riots, rebellions and revolutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Combining the raconteur’s ear for a story with a historian’s command of the facts, he introduces an incomparable cast of characters: the literati, the philosophers and the artists—Balzac, Baudelaire, Blanqui, Flaubert, Hugo, Manet, and Proust, of course; but also Doisneau, Nerval and Rousseau.

Hazan’s Paris is dyed a deep red in its convictions. It is haunted and vitalized by the history of the barricades, which Hazan retells in rich detail. The Invention of Paris opens a window on the forgotten byways of the capital’s vibrant and bloody past, revealing the city in striking new colors. 20 b&w illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Growth, deconstruction, growth.
From page one, you enter a romance-free zone.Not for the casual Parisian enthusiast. A detailed map of Paris will help as a guide for this well researched encyclopedic adventure. "The Invention of Paris", reaches delightful levels as the pages come to conclusion. An excellent reference tool to branch off from, carefully referenced. If you're looking to peel back the Parisian centuries, and begin to feel and understand the intrigue of this wonderful, crazy, creative, city, this may be a piece of the puzzle.

for the love of Paris
Since I will be going to Paris (again) in a few weeks, I decided to have some fun in advance and buy a few books to prepare. I bought and read Graham Robbs' "Parisians", and found it well written, but also artificial, and about Paris in a very limited way. I hesitated, and finally decided not to read Hazans "The invention of Paris", which I had also bought, but instead take it with me to Paris. Yet, just to be sure it was worth the trouble, I started leafing a bit - well, okay, started reading, just a few pages, you know the sort of thing - to see if it was any good, and indeed, couldn't stop and finished it right away. I had never heard of Hazan, which meant that the book was in some ways quite a surprise.

To begin with I was amazed to discover that the book was translated from the French. Since I also read French, I would have preferred the French edition, and I will be leaving my English copy at home, and buy the French one in Paris. And although I haven't seen the original yet, I am certain about one thing in advance: the translator, David Fernbach, has done a magnificent job. He obviously took as much loving trouble translating as the writer did writing.
I liked the first part of the book very much, which consists of 225 pages, and was somewhat surprised by the second and third part (150 pages). In the first, Hazan describes in four large chapters in a detailed way how Paris has grown in concentric circles (like an onion, he says), outgrowing a number of walls that have been built round the city in the succeeding ages, and doing so by following in a more or less chronological way the quarters and sometimes the "arrondissements" of which the city consists, culminating in Haussmann's project, although he regularly winds up in the twentieth century. In doing so he consistently points out the traces of all those changes which can still be seen. The French title is more or less: "there aren't any lost steps." It is, by the way, indeed silly of me never to have understood why, going from Bd. Beaumarchais to Rue Amelot, you descend some steps. As witnesses he uses an enormous amount of contemporaries, mainly writers and historians whom he quotes continuously, but without damaging the readability. Hazan is obviously very well read. Being Dutch myself, he is also, I tend to think, a very French intellectual. Perhaps the French have more reason for being radical than the Dutch. His ideas about the city are evidently linked to some very leftist political views. He admires the insurgents on the barricades, speaks lovingly of the eastern and northern city-quarters, always the most revolutionary, and deplores the activities of Haussmann, to whom he ascribes political motives to control the rabble, a word the writer would never use, by the way. Hazan doesn't care much for bureaucrats or authorities. In the 2009 foreword to the British edition, he writes: "Among the activists of urban deterioration in these last ten years I would give top marks to the service of Espace Verts (literally: green spaces)." And yet, I forgive him immediately, because he also sounds very human, and very sympathetic. And because, as far as I am concerned, he is right most of the time. Knowing Paris reasonably well, I started with having the Michelin Atlas of Paris at hand, which is organized according to arrondissements, but after a while I also needed a large map of the complete city. The maps in my copy of the book were so dark that they were of absolutely no use. The second part of the book (Red Paris) treats the revolutions Paris knew, especially the ones of 1848-1851, the third part has two chapters, about "flaneurs" and about photography and Paris. If I would have had anything to say about the book, I would have said: don't. Try to integrate as much as you can out of those last chapters in the first part, and skip the rest. Both parts of the book suffer by this strange division. Nonetheless, this is a magnificent book, which to me seems a must for everyone who loves (and knows) Paris.
Okay, just to prove that I did read the book: the Passage des Panoramas doesn't extend across Bd Montparnasse, but across Bd Montmartre of course (an understandable slip of the pen on page 39). The only obvious mistake is on p. 350, where Fernbach translates (the passus is about Manet's painting Olympia): "The tone of the chairs is dirty". Meant here is of course "nude, flesh, or body" (French "la chair"). And although the footnotes are great, I missed a list of literature. And, to my surprise, Hazan doesn't mention Simenon, which I found a pity.

Nonetheless: I will love walking around Paris with this book at hand. And If I would, in doing so, meet messieurs Fernbach or Hazan, I would take my hat off and bow.

Walking around Paris and its history.
This book is a very interesting study of the history (and the story) of Paris, how its arrondissements were formed and the famous people who have walked its streets over the centuries. It first dwells on the old Paris and its "quartiers" (Palais-Royal, Tuileries, Bourse, Marais, the Latin Quarter, Saint-Germain, etc), then on the new Paris and its "faubourgs" (Saint-Honoré, Saint-Antoine, Montparnasse, etc) and its "villages" (Passy and Auteuil, Vaugirard and Grenelle, Montmartre, La Villette, etc), then describes the "red Paris", i.e. the story of the various revolutions that stirred the city over the course of the XIXth and the XXth centuries up to 1968 ("the story of Red Parisillustrates better than any other Walter Benjamin's remark according to which the time of the oppressed is by nature a discontinued one. During the 1830 fights, tallying and astounded testimonies tell of insurgents firing upon monument clocks"). The book ends with various portraits of famous Paris strollers, such as Baudelaire or Balzac, with many quotations drawn from their works.

On the whole, a vivid and very instructive book,full of anecdotes, which bases itself not only on topographical or historical knowledge, but also on the classics of literature (Balzac, Benjamin, Rousseau, Baudelaire...). ... Read more

Product Description
Who took part in the widespread disturbances that periodically shook 18th-century London? What really motivated the food rioters who helped to spark off the French Revolution? How did the movement of agricultural laborers destroying new machinery spread from one village to another in the English countryside? How did the sans-culottes organize in revolutionary Paris?

George RudŽ was the first historian to ask such questions and in doing so he identified "the faces in the crowd" in some of the crucial episodes in modern European history. An established classic of "history from below," The Crowd in History is remarkable above all for the clarity with which it deals with the full sweep of complex events. Whether in Belgrade or Jakarta, crowds continue to make history, and George RudŽ's work retains all its freshness and relevance for students of history and politics and general readers alike.

This is an innovative discussion of the role of ordinary people in some of the turning-points of European history. ... Read more

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At a fascinating moment in French intellectual history, an interest in matters occult was not equivalent to a rejection of scientific thought; participants in séances and magic rituals were seekers after experimental data as well as spiritual truth. A young astronomy student wrote of his quest: "I am not in the presence or under the influence of any evil spirit: I study Spiritism as I study mathematics." He did not see himself as an ecstatic visionary but rather as a sober observer. For him, the darkened room of occult practice was as much laboratory as church.

In an evocative history of alternative religious practices in France in the second half of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, John Warne Monroe tells the interconnected stories of three movements--Mesmerism, Spiritism, and Occultism. Adherents of these groups, Monroe reveals, attempted to "modernize" faith by providing empirical support for metaphysical concepts. Instead of trusting theological speculation about the nature of the soul, these believers attempted to gather tangible evidence through Mesmeric experiments, séances, and ceremonial magic.

While few French people were active Mesmerists, Spiritists, or Occultists, large segments of the educated general public were familiar with these movements and often regarded them as fascinating expressions of the "modern condition," a notable contrast to the Catholicism and secular materialism that prevailed in their culture. Featuring eerie spirit photographs, amusing Daumier lithographs, and a posthumous autograph from Voltaire, as well as extensive documentary evidence, Laboratories of Faith gives readers a sense of what being in a séance or a secret-society ritual might actually have felt like and why these feelings attracted participants. While they never achieved the transformation of human consciousness for which they strove, these thinkers and believers nevertheless pioneered a way of "being religious" that has become an enduring part of the Western cultural vocabulary. ... Read more

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In 1754, Charles de Raymond, chevalier of the Royal andMilitary Order of Saint Louis and a captain in the Troupes de laMarine wrote a bold, candid, and revealing expose on the Frenchcolonial posts and settlements of New France.On the Eve of theConquest, more than an annotated translation, includes a discussion onthe historical background of the start of the French and Indian War,as well as a concise biography of Raymond and Michel Le Courtois deSurlaville, the army colonel at the French court to whom the reportwas sent.The events surrounding Raymond's controversial year ascommandant of the post (now Fort Wayne, Indiana) in 1749-50, hisdisputed recall by Governor General Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel de LaJonquiere, and the subsequent friction between La Jonquiere'ssuccessor, Ange de Menneville Duqesne, and Raymond are presented indetail and illustrated by translations of their correspondence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A rare contemporary appraisal of French posts
Charles de Raymond arrived in New France in 1722 as a second ensign. After commanding Fort Niagara (Youngstown NY) as a lieutenant (1738-46), he was promoted captain and served in New York and Massachusetts frontier campaigns (1746-48). In 1749 he was rewarded with command of Fort Miami (Fort Wayne Indiana), a position that included local trading rights (potentially a very lucrative income source). Unable to prevent the defection of native allies, he was recalled the next year. He briefly served at Louisbourg (1752-53) under his cousin (Governor Jean-Louis de Raymond), visited France with dispatches, lobbied the minister of Marine, and was named a Chevalier de St-Louis before returning to Québec in 1754.

Despite his enhanced status, Chevalier de Raymond found no ally in Governor-General Ange Duquesne de Menneville, who accused him of proposing "high, middle, and low levels of justice among the northern Indians" (feudalism for natives, an absurd proposal) and reaping 10,000 écus revenue (30,000 livres: a healthy sum) from his Miami post in 1750. Denied advancement, Raymond requested recall and wrote the `Enumeration of all the Canadian Posts' for Colonel Michel Le Courtois de Surlaville (a former superior at Louisbourg and an influential officer at court).

Raymond's "Enumeration" is a rare contemporary catalog of major trade routes and posts (excluding lower Louisiana), detailed with reform proposals claimed to be worth 183,000 livres per annum. Most reforms deal with post administration - command, junior officer favoritism, trade privileges, standard pay, the brandy trade, congés (trade licenses), staffing, supplies, transports, etc.

Raymond could be accused of self-promotion and discrimination (Pierre Pouchot was similarly critical of Canadian-born officers), but this volume remains well worth reading. Correspondence between the principals, maps, illustrations, and a historical background (to 1754) is included.

The reader should be cautioned that the level of detail and Raymond's emphasis on administration (laborious at times) suggests this work is more appropriate for those with a serious interest and/or prior knowledge of New France. ... Read more

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Taking a largely chronological approach, A Brief History of Australia looks at social, cultural, economic, and political trends in the country's long history, shedding light on its unique and complex identity. Beginning with the peopling of the continent about 60,000 years ago, the volume examines the early history and culture of the Aboriginals. It continues with the first documented sighting of the landmass by a European in the 17th century, followed by a discussion of the colonial period in the 18th and 19th centuries. From the Federation of 1901 to the Liberal government of John Howard (1998 to 2007) and the Labor government of John Rudd (2007 present), this new book explores Australia's relationship to the British Crown, national security and education policy, the role of sport and environmental issues, Aboriginal rights, women's history, and gay rights. ... Read more

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One of the greatest achievements of modern research is the discovery of a key by which we may determine the kinship of nations.' (Excerpt from Chapter 1) ... Read more

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In this volume, one of the first to look at 'Revolutionary France' as a whole, a team of leading international historians explore the major issues of politics and society, culture, economics, and overseas expansion during this vital period of French history. ... Read more

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In this highly original history of the world's most famous bicycle race, Christopher S. Thompson, mining previously neglected sources and writing with infectious enthusiasm for his subject, tells the compelling story of the Tour de France from its creation in 1903 to the present. Weaving the words of racers, politicians, Tour organizers, and a host of other commentators together with a wide-ranging analysis of the culture surrounding the event--including posters, songs, novels, films, and media coverage--Thompson links the history of the Tour to key moments and themes in French history. Examining the enduring popularity of Tour racers, Thompson explores how their public images have changed over the past century. A new preface explores the long-standing problem of doping in light of recent scandals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A Tour that is France.
Yes, this book is called "The Tour de France," yet it's not about the race in particular; it's about the race as part of the French psyche in a much more general sense.If you want to know who won a certain stage of a particular race, then this is not the book for you.But when you reach the point in your understanding of the race where you want to know how it fits into the very fabric of Frecnh life -- be it in the areas of food, labor or politics -- then this is the book for you.As the French used to say, "For 11 months of the year, Charles De Gaulle runs France, but during July it is[race director] Jacques Goddet."

A very complete examination of the race's impact on French society -- just look at the number of footnotes there are.

Must-Read for True Tour de France Fans!
I enjoy French culture and I'm a huge fan of the Tour de France so this book was a perfect read for me. It opened my eyes to the concept that major sporting events are an ingrained part of national culture and politics. For instance, who would have known that there's a connection between the Dreyfus affair and the Tour de France? Or that the French communists thought of the racers as their poster children?

The level of detail in the author's research was outstanding. And although the book seems to have been written primarily for an academic audience, it's not a difficult read at all.

I truly appreciated the section on "The Hero Dehumanized: The Bicycle Racer as Machine" as well as the latter portions on modern-day doping and use of technology. Because of the length of the races, the repetitive nature of riding a bike and the use of mechanized equipment, pro and amateur racers, in my opinion, sometimes take on the "persona" of a machine. That is such a shame because I'd much rather watch a fallible human have one stellar performance than a robot win over and over again. That's why my number one favorite moment in the modern Tour is Christophe Agnolutto's stage win in 2000.

Why? Because nothing that lasts for over 100 years occurs in a vacuum
and if you want to understand something as enduring as the Tour de France, you need to understand something about what it meant to the people who paid for, participated in and supported it.

A very good book (and a quite remarkable work of history for an author who seems to have spent a bit too much time in the halls of an English department.)

The Tour de France: A Cultural History.
In writing The Tour de France: A Cultural History, Christopher Thompson has done that very rare thing: he has increased our net knowledge of the Tour de France. This is extraordinary given that the Tour has been the subject of writers for over 100 years. Mountains of books have been written about the Tour.

This isn't a book devoted to who dropped whom on what climb. Thompson is fishing in deeper waters. Why is the Tour the way it is? How has it affected French culture and how did French culture affect the Tour? The answers to these questions are important to any cycling fan who wants to know why he has to get up early in the morning to watch a race that is taking place 9 time zones away.

Lance Armstrong voiced his anger that the Tour de France took place in France. Yet, the Tour could only have grown and matured in France. Britain, as a result of the industrial revolution, clustered its population in cities. This made it perfect for stadium sports but ill-suited for cycle road racing. France remained a rural country well into the twentieth century making it perfect for the traveling show that is the Tour. Also, the Tour encouraged and celebrated foreign winners while the Giro connived at denying foreign riders a fair shot at victory. Moreover, the Tour was founded by a strangely gifted man, Henri Desgrange, who guided the Tour from its infancy to sturdy maturity with an iron-fisted despotism. Thompson analyzes the changes to French society that made mass-spectator sport possible at the end of the nineteenth century and how Desgrange exploited them.

The Tour de France, being a cultural history, discusses at length the riders and their economic and social position in society and how it has changed over the years. There is also a very enlightening discussion of doping, a component of racing that cannot be ignored.

This is a wonderful book that will leave the reader with a deeper understanding of the Tour and France. Read this book. It is well written and exhaustively researched. Thompson's passion for bicycle racing and French history makes each page a pleasure.

There is a bonus. The cover photo of 1947 Tour winner Jean Robic being doused with water by a couple running alongside him has to be one of the greatest cycling pictures of all time. Their obvious joy juxtaposed alongside the struggling rider encapsulates the attraction of the Tour far more than any 1000 words could possibly hope to do.

-Bill McGann, Author of The Story of the Tour de France: How a Newspaper Promotion Became the Greatest Sporting Event in the World.

Why?
I'm not sure why this book was written.It's less about the Tour and more about how the tour fits into french history.I'm also wondering who the intended reader is.Avid cyclists who love the tour and it's drama?Or history professors locked in ivory towers studying the minutae of human activity over time. ... Read more

Product Description
The sequence in which food has been served at meals has changed greatly over the centuries and has also varied from one country to another, a fact noted in virtually every culinary history. Most food writers have treated the more significant alterations as stand-alone events. The most famous example of such a change occurred in the nineteenth century, when service à la française--in which the stunning presentation made a great show but diners had to wait to be served--gave way to service à la russe, in which platters were passed among diners who served themselves. But in Arranging the Meal, the late culinary historian Jean-Louis Flandrin argues that such a change in the order of food service is far from a distinct event. Instead he regards it as a historical phenomenon, one that happened in response to socioeconomic and cultural factors--another mutation in an ever-changing sequence of customs. As France's most illustrious culinary historian, Flandrin has become a cult figure in France, and this posthumous book is not only his final word but also a significant contribution to culinary scholarship. A foreword by Beatrice Fink places Flandrin's work in context and offers a personal remembrance of this French culinary hero. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A good portrait of a legend
The Lemoynes, among the most celebrated dynasties in New France, had no more famous son than Pierre Lemoyne de Iberville. Raised in Iroquois-battered Montréal, he first rose to prominence at the age of 25 serving with two brothers and a cousin under Chevalier de Troyes on a 84-day expedition (via the Ottawa River) to James Bay, where they captured three forts run by the Company of Adventurers (founded by renegades Médard Chouart Des Grosseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson, later known as the HBC) and placed them under his governorship. Thus began a decade-long struggle for the control of Hudson Bay, where mere peacetime survival was difficult (it remains difficult 300 years later).

With capable relatives and associates serving on Hudson Bay, Iberville also led other campaigns during this period (Schenectady 1690, New England coastal waters 1692, Acadia and Newfoundland 1696-97). His final exploit on Hudson Bay was a remarkable (outnumbered three to one) naval victory and the capture of York Fort in 1697. Hudson Bay was nonetheless ceded to England to serve national interests under the Peace of Ryswick, forcing Iberville to find a new quest.

He chose to fulfil the vision of René-Robert Cavalier de La Salle (who descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico with Henri Tonty in 1682, failed to find the mouth of the same river on his return by sea three years later, and was killed by mutineers in Texas in 1687). Commissioned by Louis XIV to find "the mouth (of the Mississippi)...select a good site which can be defended with few men, and...block entry to the river by other nations," Iberville sailed from France with four ships late in 1698. After exploring Dauphin Island (named Massacre Island after the discovery of sixty skeletons) and Mobile Bay early in 1699, he located the Mississippi Delta, entered the North Pass, and ascended the river. He confirmed it as the Mississippi only after meeting a Bayogoula chief wearing a blue French coat and finding a letter penned by Tonty for La Salle faithfully held by that nation since 1685. Iberville secured Louisiana with the establishment of Fort Maurepas on Biloxi Bay in 1699, Fort La Boulaye (Fort du Mississippi: Pheonix LA) in 1700, and Fort St-Louis on Mobile Bay in 1702. After conquering Nevis (1706), he fell ill, died at the age of 45, and was buried in Havana. The founding of New Orleans (1718) was left to his younger brother, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne de Bienville.

Though published in 1954 (paperback 2001), this remains a lucid, chronological account of a major figure. It includes a brief portrait of his father (Charles Lemoyne de Longueuil et de Châteauguay, a man of modest birth ennobled in 1668 for accomplishments no less remarkable) and some of his siblings (most of whom compiled enviable records). If there's a minor fault in this work it's the inclusion of only two maps - Newfoundland and Louisiana (the New York frontier, Hudson Bay, and Acadia would also have been helpful).

The Great Naval Hero of New France and Early Louisiana
Pierre LeMoyne Sieur d'Iberville is a major figure in the history of both the Hudson's Bay Company (he was the arch-nemesis of the HBC, raiding their major forts and almost extinguishing their influence over the fur trade) and Lousiana - where, during the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, he established several strategic forts and played a key role in the founding of New Orleans.This is a very good book of his life in the French Navy and the French Colonial Service, extremely rewarding reading for anyone with an interest in New France and early Louisiana. ... Read more

Product Description
This account of the French era in Canada is the most original treatment of the subject in over a century. The analysis and ideas in the first edition helped create a whole new school of thought about Canadian history. Over 50,000 copies have been used in classrooms in Canada and the United States in the decade since its publication. In this revised edition, the author updates the bibliography and adds new ideas advanced in the 1970s that will make more valuable still this acclaimed general history of New France. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An Indispensable History Of New France
"The Canadian Frontier" is an excellent exposition of the story of the interface between Canadian and native civilizations from 1534-1760.As the Canadian frontier included much of the Midwest, this book is a good choice for both American and Canadian readers with an interest in the history of New France.

Prof. Eccles makes the point that the Canadian frontier is conceptionally different from the American frontier.The American frontier was a geographical concept, the line where settlement gave way to wilderness.The Canadian frontier, by contrast, was a series of settled islands in a sea of wilderness at which civilization "did business" with native cultures.

One test of a good historical book is whether it changes the reader's view of history.This one passes that test.I had always viewed the competition between the French, British and Indians in North America as being based on basic nationalistic and tribal rivalries.Prof. Eccles explains the rivalry in terms of an economic competition over the fur trade.The roles of the Indians was to supply the furs.The locations of the trade shifted over time between the eastern settlements, western trading posts and in Indian villages at which traders visited.Traders competed in goods offered, while tribes competed, at times by war, to control access to traders and their goods.Middleman profits were often at stake.

The economy of New France is contrasted with that of the British colonies.The economy of the British colonies was largely based on farming while the economy of New France was, primarily, extractive, based on the fur trade and, to a lesser extent, fishing.Farming in New France was, initially, merely to supply the settlers.As population increased and the fur trade declined, New France evolved from a trading to an agricultural colony.

The trading pattern of New France determined land use practices as well as relations with the Indian tribes.I had always thought of low populations of New France as a reflection of the unwillingness of the French to migrate to North America.From this book I learned that low population density was indispensable to a fur trade based economy.

Like the Spanish to the West, and unlike the English to the south, evangelization was a major part of the interaction on the Canadian Frontier.Much of the exploration and development was instituted or accompanied by missionaries.

Over time, the Canadian Frontier was changed by tribal wars which determined the access of each tribe to western traders and their wares.Although Indians are often portrayed as victims of white aggression, the truth is that they acquired a dependency on European goods which contributed to their own downfall.

The military aspects of the North American wars are interesting in that they relate the relative contributions of the Regular forces, the militia and the Indians.Another of my conceptions which was changed by this book was that the outcome of the French and Indian war was dictated by the colonial population imbalance.Prof. Eccles makes the case that the fighting qualities of the French militia made them dominant over the English militias and that it was only the skills of the British regulars against the bungling of the French regulars which won the war for Britain.

Ultimately, the world in which the Canadian Frontier arose and prospered changed and the Frontier disappeared.The French and Indian War restricted the numbers of voyagers to a handful.The vision of the French habitants changed from that of an open continent in which to trade for furs, to a river valley in which to farm and sell their produce.The leadership of the fur trade changed from French entrepreneurs to British businessmen.The British, who fought to wrest the Ohio Valley from the French, tried to close it to their own colonists.Ultimately, the colonials who fought to take the Ohio Valley from the French took it from the British with French aid.The Indians who had tried to play one power against the other, found that, in contributing to the downfall of the French regime, they had traded a benevolent, cooperative colonial power for one which would take their land and destroy their culture.

Professor Eccles has told the early history of much of our continent with insight and a skilled writing style.The supporting notes and bibliography guide the reader to sources for further research and reading."The Canadian Frontier" is a must for anyone with an interest in the history of New France.
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The Canadian Frontier
W. J. Eccles did a phenomenal job in covering the history of New France. I was expecting a dry history. I didn't get one. What I got was a story of men and a few women.

This book is a facinating account of thesettlement of Canada under the French. For a history book, it was hard toput down. Eccles brought the problems of starting and maintaining a colonyto life. He presents historical figures like Frontenac and La Salle as realpeople who made real mistakes without excuses or whitewashing.

I wouldrecommend this book to anyone doing any type of research into New France. ... Read more

Product Description
A new edition of James Collins's acclaimed synthesis that challenged longstanding views of the origins of modern states and absolute monarchy through an analysis of early modern Europe's most important continental state. Incorporating recent scholarship on the French state and his own research, James Collins has revised the text throughout. He examines recent debates on 'absolutism'; presents a fresh interpretation of the Fronde and of French society in the eighteenth century; includes additional material on French colonies and overseas trade; and ties recent theoretical work into a new chapter on Louis XIV. He argues that the monarchical state came into being around 1630, matured between 1690 and 1730 and, in a new final chapter, shows that the period May 1787 to June 1789 was an interregnum, with the end of the Ancien Régime coming not in 1789 but with the dissolution of the Assembly of Notables on 25 May 1787. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (8)

Interesting Concept; Some funny Stories
After looking at the other reviews, I have to say that I pretty much agree with most of them.The writng is good, but not great; The stories are intersting but many of them are not new if you're already a big fan of the Tour, and the telling of the tales of the latter years does tend to be kind of dry.

Still, if you are a casual fan of the race, this book could be quite helpful in catching you up with the rest of us on some of the stranger, wierder, and more unusual things that have happened over the course of the race's long, colorful history.Also there are some interesting quotes, and the stats at the end of the book are fairly informative.

A wasted idea
When I picked up this book, I was hoping for a nice collection of anecdotes and history about the TdF. Instead, I sat through a recitation of statistics, with a writing style either as dry as a textbook, or so littered with misplaced analogies, bad metaphors and flowery writing that it would make a romance novelist blush. Though there are some interesting anecdotes taken from other histories about the very early years of the tour, nearly every year after WWII is completely bereft of anything beyond who won, and on what stage they took the yellow jersey. Much of the book feels like it was dumbed down for non-cyclists, but really, who besides cyclists are going to read this book?
Perhaps most frustrating is the inclusion of doping scandals in the book. From the very beginning the author makes it clear that doping has always been a part of the tour, ever since the first year. Yet somehow, the introduction of EPO into the peleton suddenly changes the entire history of cycling. The recaps of the last 10 tours focus almost entirely on the doping scandals of the year. We heard enough about that while the race was being run. The author needs to either accept that doping has been a part of the tour for its entire history, and ignore it for the sake of the book, or change the name of the book to Doping saddles, and forget about trying to praise the tour for it's sordid history. This book just didn't have room for both.
On the plus side, the 2-3 page recaps of each year make the book perfect for bathroom reading, and if you read carefully, there are a few moments of entertaining stories and interesting facts, hiding among the dribble.

What could be dry is somewhat entertaining
Buddhist-like, this book takes the middle path - it is neither a dry encyclopedia nor an engrossing "best of" Tour de France book. Yet for its attempt to be comprehensive, it yaws more toward the latter than the former.

The book manages to hit the highlights of EVERY TdF in an entertaining fashion; and while it is apparent that some TdFs deserve little-to-no mention while books should be (and have been) written about several others...well, Blazing Saddles shows that sometimes the middle ground is a fertile place.

Poor writing
This book is packed with information and great photos.However, the writing is so poor that it was hard to follow at times.

A 'must have' reference that is as entertaining as it is informative
The Tour De France is the most prestigious race in cycling, but it didn't become that way overnight. "Blazing Saddles: The Cruel and Unusual History of the Tour De France" chronicles the races one hundred and five year history, full of memory quotes and events throughout the history of the race. With each year covered with statistics covering the length of the course, the top three finishers and their times, it lends a bit of history to each of the races. For any fan of the race, "Blazing Saddles" is a 'must have' reference that is as entertaining as it is informative. ... Read more

Product Description
This book surveys the social history of New France. For more than a century, until the British conquest of 1759-60, France held sway over a major portion of the North American continent. In this vast territory several unique colonial societies emerged, societies which in many respects mirrored ancien regime France, but also incorporated a major Aboriginal component. Whereas earlier works in this field represented pre-Conquest Canada as entirely white and Catholic, The People of New France looks closely at other members of the society as well, including black slaves, English captives, and the Christian Iroquois of the mission villages near Montreal. The author extends his analysis to French settlements around the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi Valley, and to Acadia and Ile Royale. Greer's book, addressed to undergraduate students and general readers, provides a deeper understanding of how people lived their lives in New France. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Early Canadian history
Students (university or higher grades of school) will find this a useful book. Its 137 pages, including bibliography and index, offer a succinct introduction to everyday life in pre-Conquest New France. Allan Greer covers topics as diverse as the religious communities, capital punishment and the typical livestock of a farm.

A good introductory history.
"The People of New France" is a good introduction and overview of early Canadian history.Well-written, not dry or overly long.Highly recommended.

well-written introduction to interesting topic
The People of New France was written by Professor Greer with his undergraduate students in mind.This book is therefore comprehensive while being accessible.He includes chapters on the role of women and native people in colonial life: groups who were marginalized during the period and are still under-represented in historical work today.(However, his contention that New France was 'multicultural' is debatable.)Greer is a very good writer:after reading the book, you feel like you know what it was like to live in New France, which is reason enough to pick it up. ... Read more

Product Description
This book tells the story of how the French community embarked upon, sustained and prevailed in the Great War. The scholarly survey on France's role in the war blends diplomatic, military, social, cultural and economic history. ... Read more

Product Description
Drawing on the most up-to-date research and theories, Greater France provides a comprehensive and lively account of France's imperial adventure, from the sands of the Sahara to the jungles of equatorial Africa, from the lush rice paddies of Indochina to the legendary isles of Polynesia. ... Read more