La Belle France

I finally finished reading La Belle France: A Short History. (Short is a relative term; the book is 441 pages.) Let me tell you, there is a lot I didn't know about French history. Sadly, I didn't retain it all as well as I would have liked.

Alistair Horne's writing style is pretty dense, although he includes lots of witty asides and humorous quotes. (For example, "Francois Mauriac's famous witticism that he loved Germany so much that he was always 'delighted there were two of them.'") He does use French quite a bit, with no thought to translate. He's clearly writing to a British audience that reached a certain level of French proficiency in school. When Michael was in the room, he could usually translate the French for me, but when he was not here, I just shrugged and kept reading. My lack of French definitely detracted from the reading experience.

It was also an interesting experience to read a book written by a Brit for Brits. The frame of reference was different. Comparisons were made to situations and people I was completely ignorant of or knew only vaguely.

When I studied world history in school, I came away with the impression that France was slightly unstable for much of its history, an impression that was only reinforced by this book. I knew the students and workers had barricaded the streets of Paris during the French Revolution. What I hadn't realized is that blocking the streets of Paris was a common component of an uprising. Did you know that France had 20 governments between 1945 and 1954? I have a new appreciate for regularly scheduled elections that happen regardless of whether or not one likes the current government.