From the Gauls to DeGaulle, my review of "A History of France"

A History of France by John Julius Norwich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


While Norwich is one of my favorite history authors, this one fell a bit flat for me. The problem is the sheer scope of the topic. Trying to write a history of France from the Gauls to DeGaulle either requires several volumes of skimming over a lot of things and here the latter path was taken.

For example, the 250 years of the Merovingian dynasty is reduced to a few paragraphs mentioning Clovis I as the first real king of France, and that Dagobert I did a lot to establish the Roman Church in Frankish lands, and had a piece of doggerel written about him. That's it.

The pattern continues through the book, which ends up being more about the rulers of France than the nation. I know it's an overview, but a few pages on the history of Piedmont and how it relates to France's growth; what the Huguenots wanted and who their leaders were, and the changes in French culture and industry that affected the direction of the nation. Even small pieces of this would add to the picture.

Still, it's a good read in Norwich's easy style. Thankfully, he provides footnotes to translate French quotes and does a good job of leading the reader through centuries of French leaders and the challenges they faced. So if you're a real student of French history, you can skip this one as it doesn't have anything you can't read about in more depth elsewhere. If you have a casual interest in France's backstory, this might be a good book for you.



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A Grim Achievement.

The first Americans killed in combat in Vietnam died on July 8th, 1959. The last to die were killed on April 29, 1975. In the 15 years, 9 months, and 22 days those dates encompass, 58,220 Americans died in the Vietnam War.

The First COVID-19 death in the US is thought to have happened on February 6th of this year here in my home of Santa Clara County. In the 83 days since that first casualty, 58,365 Americans have died.

I am honestly amazed I'm not one of them.

Right now, there is no vaccine. Right now, all we can do is try to keep the body fighting. We need to stay strong and keep doing everything we can to keep the coronavirus from spreading!

In case you were morbidly wondering, the next milepost is the 405,399 who died in WWII.