Guide to France for history travellers Guides for History Travellers Book 2 eBook Bob Fowke
Download As PDF : Guide to France for history travellers Guides for History Travellers Book 2 eBook Bob Fowke 
‘This thoroughly readable resource is the ideal entry point - for young - (or old) minds.’
Everything France (on the paperback version 2005)
‘Great for both kids and adults.’
Sunday Times Travel Magazine (on Spain)
A rough guide to the history of France with maps and tourist tips, for those who want to be well informed but don’t want to take too long over it. More fun than the brief histories at the front of most popular guide books and much shorter than most standard histories, it can be read on the flight or ferry over. French history unwinds across the pages in an easy-to-read narrative from the remote past and right up to the present day. There are cartoons, maps and eyewitness tips on where to go, and there's a simple timeline at the back and a list of rulers with their dates.
Guide to France for history travellers Guides for History Travellers Book 2 eBook Bob Fowke
Wish to obtain insight into the history of France sans the tedium of wading through the copious minutiae of detailed tomes that provide you with way too many dates, let alone barely pronounceable names of people and places? Bob Fowke, in his latest ebook in the series Guides for History Travellers, may just fulfil your desire. Guide to France for History Travellers provides a painless introduction to the history of this grand and imposing country in just 141 pages. With a style that disguises erudition with a lively and raconteurish approach, he supplies the reader with an overview of the illustrious nation's history that has its first traces back in 90,000BC, up until the time of its latest bling-bling Nicholas Sarkozy (bringing the scandalous overconsumption of the French court, which is notorious for the overindulgence practised by such royals as the Sun King and Louis XVI, right up to date).Fowke's lighthearted approach to centuries of history enables him to convey a great deal of information without leaving his audience feeling drained of any wish to hear more. In fact, he whets the appetite, so that one tends to yearn for added details. The author has been criticised for not citing his sources, but he clearly did not wish to weigh down the smooth flow of his text with unnecessary allusions that might merely have served to alienate some of his audience. Fowkes has journalistic-type banter down to a fine art, as befits a columnist for the Guardian Online. His clear intention of writing with the tourist in mind is borne across by the subtitle to this book: "The perfect travel guide and rough history for tourists who like their guides and histories short and entertaining, with travel tips on places of interest."
In addition to the narrative text, Fowke includes guide tips for the different regions of France that are of particular relevance to the tale that he tells. He includes not only numerous amusing line drawings, but also outline maps of the areas concerned. For each section of the text, Fowke provides travel guide timelines for the period covered. Appended are a list of the rulers of France, divided up into their respective dynasties (Merovingians, Carolingians, etc.), and a list of important dates, stretching from prehistoric times up to 2002, when the Euro replaced the franc.
Bob Fowke, renowned author and illustrator, is surprisingly modest and unassuming, considering his prolific output of over sixty largely science and history books, the majority of which have been published by leading British publishers. He is also amazingly versatile, as, in addition to the previously mentioned accomplishments, he is also an entrepreneur with a keen interest in the cause of those who wish to become self-published, having started up the YouCaxton venture a year ago in order to assist fellow writers with preparing their books for self-publication.
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Guide to France for history travellers Guides for History Travellers Book 2 eBook Bob Fowke Reviews
I borrowed this from the Lending Library and then decided I could not "return" it, so I bought it. I plan to travel in France and wanted this to be with me for reference. The descriptions of historical events are easy to follow and interesting.
While living in France I wanted just a quick understanding of French history. This book is perfect because it's engaging, and only touches briefly upon main points in France's history. Then, if you're interested in learning more about any specific piece of the history you can research elsewhere. Is a quick read, not an in-depth account but you could write volumes on French history, better to read this book and get an idea of which parts, if any, you're more interested in.
Bob Fowke's Guide to France for History Travellers ( edition) is as fun to read as his previously reviewed guide to Spain. The armchair traveler and the jetsetter alike can glean plenty from his books. Fowke brings history to life as a true master storyteller, blending more mundane facts such as dates and places with historic trivia and true tales told in an entertaining way.
Someone who is planning a trip to France might read this before charting a course, as the Guide Tips will reveal some interesting sites that would merit a visit. These tips were possibly my favorite part of the book, presented as they are in an "oh, by the way, you might want to see this" kind of aside.
I was pleased to see that there are maps in this volume, something that I noted was missing from the guide to Spain. The timelines help put the whole of France's history in perspective. What disappointed me was that the timelines in both books have not been updated since their first release. This seems a fairly simple fix when both are offered in e-book formats.
There are many superb guidebooks to France, too many to ever summarize for any one person who just loves going there. This guidebook is educational and just great fun. And the author makes no bones about his arrogance
"France has a very long and very full history. To attempt to sum it up in a mere 128 pages is probably an act of insanity. It's not just the length of France's history, which is problematic; it's the sheer, mind-boggling importance of the place.... But on the other hand - history is as much about leaving things out as putting things in. Without leaving things out, history books would be impossible and, seen from this perspective, a 128 page history of France is fine."
Fowke leaves out "steamy love affairs, bloody battles, great artists, gorgeous women, handsome men, brilliant scientists, saints, misfits, mad fools and megalomanicacs which France has produced in glorious abundance over the centuries", but, it's a very big but, there are many of each still left within these pages.
The book works very well on a , or in my case on an iPhone; the drawings reproduce very well and enhance the text, which is written in a light hearted way, but with complete accuracy (although at times I was hungry for just a bit more information). For example, Napoleon III goes from exile to president with not even a skip in between. Luckily, Wikipedia is always at hand on my iPhone, and the gaps are always easy to fill in.
I found many parts of the book fascinating; just the list of rulers is sort of over-whelming and the names resonate with great meaning, or with quiet tittering, depending on the era and my personal state of knowledge. Who could have guessed that the first six rulers had names that started with "C", and that nine out of the first ten did too. Pepin the Short, Charles I, the Bald -- the Fat, the Pious, the Simple, the Stammerer, the Foreigner, the Sluggard, another Pious, another Fat, the Young, the Bold, on and on -- can you make this stuff up?
The list of important dates seems quite comprehensive compared with those in the dozen or so general guide books I have for France, and the Table of Contents (which is beautifully active) entrances
To be Frank, Rather brutally so
Madame Guillotine
Citizen King
Little tidbits enchant; a dog named "Robot" makes an incredible discovery in a cave near Lascaux in 1940, for example. These short essays enliven the text, always with a bit of humanity and with humor, of the sly British style that always cheers me up.
A minor gripe as I complained in my Review of Fowke's Guide to Spain for History Travellers, I would have liked to see a list of what books and other resources Fowke considers essential to understand the sampling he gives of some of these treasures; it is obvious that despite the light and accessible nature of his writing, his prose rests on a great deal of scholarship, and I wish he would have shared his knowledge with us.
Nevertheless, based on my generalist's life experience, Fowke has touched on many crucial events in France's history, in a warm and witty fashion. It makes a delightful introduction for new comers to France and its history. It offers a great deal to old hands like myself as well.
Robert C. Ross
June 2012
Wish to obtain insight into the history of France sans the tedium of wading through the copious minutiae of detailed tomes that provide you with way too many dates, let alone barely pronounceable names of people and places? Bob Fowke, in his latest ebook in the series Guides for History Travellers, may just fulfil your desire. Guide to France for History Travellers provides a painless introduction to the history of this grand and imposing country in just 141 pages. With a style that disguises erudition with a lively and raconteurish approach, he supplies the reader with an overview of the illustrious nation's history that has its first traces back in 90,000BC, up until the time of its latest bling-bling Nicholas Sarkozy (bringing the scandalous overconsumption of the French court, which is notorious for the overindulgence practised by such royals as the Sun King and Louis XVI, right up to date).
Fowke's lighthearted approach to centuries of history enables him to convey a great deal of information without leaving his audience feeling drained of any wish to hear more. In fact, he whets the appetite, so that one tends to yearn for added details. The author has been criticised for not citing his sources, but he clearly did not wish to weigh down the smooth flow of his text with unnecessary allusions that might merely have served to alienate some of his audience. Fowkes has journalistic-type banter down to a fine art, as befits a columnist for the Guardian Online. His clear intention of writing with the tourist in mind is borne across by the subtitle to this book "The perfect travel guide and rough history for tourists who like their guides and histories short and entertaining, with travel tips on places of interest."
In addition to the narrative text, Fowke includes guide tips for the different regions of France that are of particular relevance to the tale that he tells. He includes not only numerous amusing line drawings, but also outline maps of the areas concerned. For each section of the text, Fowke provides travel guide timelines for the period covered. Appended are a list of the rulers of France, divided up into their respective dynasties (Merovingians, Carolingians, etc.), and a list of important dates, stretching from prehistoric times up to 2002, when the Euro replaced the franc.
Bob Fowke, renowned author and illustrator, is surprisingly modest and unassuming, considering his prolific output of over sixty largely science and history books, the majority of which have been published by leading British publishers. He is also amazingly versatile, as, in addition to the previously mentioned accomplishments, he is also an entrepreneur with a keen interest in the cause of those who wish to become self-published, having started up the YouCaxton venture a year ago in order to assist fellow writers with preparing their books for self-publication.
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