This stimulating one-volume history traces the social and economic evolution of France as a nation from the founding of the monarchy in 987, to the present day. Against a background of structural change, Goubert etches a vivid account of key events and personalities. His perspective is a popular one, and his main interest is in how political events and famous people affect the nation as a whole. The book incorporates the findings and perspectives of recent monographic studies with clarity and precision, but it is Goubert's own judgements, direct, forceful and iconoclastic, which make this an invaluable text.

This stimulating one-volume history traces the social and economic evolution of France as a nation from the founding of the monarchy in 987, to the present day.
Against a background of structural change, Goubert etches a vivid account of key events and personalities. His perspective is a popular one, and his main interest is in how political events and famous people affect the nation as a whole. The book incorporates the findings and perspectives of recent monographic studies with clarity and precision, but it is Goubert's own judgements, direct, forceful and iconoclastic, which make this an invaluable text.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203414683

Presenting the regional, social and economic variety of pre-modern France, this survey of rural life examines the crucial external relationships between peasant/priest and peasant/seigneur as well as the not less important ones that existed within the peasant life lived from cradle to grave.

Between the scholars and the general public exists a real and ever-widening gulf. This book is an attempt to bridge that gulf. Many accepted beliefs about Louis XIV's reign, if not about the king himself, are ripe for reappraisal.