France

Always a warm, welcoming guide, John Julius Norwich takes us on a historical tour of France from its earliest days to the twenty-first century . . . A highly entertaining introduction to a fascinating nation * History Revealed Magazine * Norwich romps through French history with lots of good stories: philandering kings, dread plagues and legendary dinners * The Times * For his final book, the late Norwich tackled the dauntingly vast subject of two millennia of French history with admirable lightness and urbanity. There is the odd whiff, probably deliberate, of 1066 and All That - "The Capetians had steadily built up France, transforming it from a Carolingian custard into a nation" - and his comic footnotes deserve a review of their own * The Daily Telegraph, Summer Reads * A richly illuminating work . . . Norwich was a wonderful military historian * Times Literary Supplement * Almost the best thing in it is the author's short epilogue, 'The Essence of France', in which he listed what he loved most about that enchanting, if occasionally exasperating, country - its architecture, its painting and its music. These were among Norwich's greatest passions, which he invariably conveyed with authority, charm and wit -- Desmond Seward * History Today * A story told with charm and obvious enthusiasm for the subject ... My children constantly ask why the GCSE syllabus cannot be an introduction to British history rather than a somewhat esoteric dive into Weimar, Nazi Germany and Russia. What they want is a comprehensive, approachable and enjoyable survey of the story of our islands - and that is exactly what John Julius Norwich has written about France . . . The attraction of this commendable short history is that it's as entertaining as it is informative, written with fluency, wit and a nicely understated humour: a real pleasure-almost compelling-to read * Country Life * Norwich treats history like a friendly fireside chat * Sunday Independent * The tone of France is avuncular, worldly and witty; it is like having dinner with an urbane, well-read uncle. * Country & Town House * There is certainly a need for a concise history of France in English and, in many ways, John Julius Norwich is the ideal man to write it . . . Norwich has a love for France that stretches back to his childhood and it is evident throughout this readable, entertaining book. * Sunday Times * This warm, delightful short history of France, aimed convivially at the general reader, is his love letter to the country he knew so well * The Spectator * John Julius Norwich's political history of France, which begins with Vercingetorix and ends with Charles de Gaulle in 1945, invites us to admire the giants of the past and even vicariously to share in their triumphs . . . richly illuminating * Times Literary Supplement * Written with zest . . . The sadly late JJN shines through as his best friendly donnish self - an avuncular tutor who invites you in for a glass as he expounds on 2000 years of French history, from the Gauls through Charlemagne and Julius Caesar to de Gaulle. With a deft but gentle touch, he goes through sex, death and tennis, and it either complements a summer holiday to France or gives you a sudden desire to visit * OX Magazine *

After National Service, John Julius Norwich (1929-2018) took a degree in French and Russian at New College, Oxford. In 1952 he joined the Foreign Service serving at the embassies in Belgrade and Beirut and with the British Delegation to the Disarmament Conference at Geneva. His publications include The Normans in Sicily; Mount Athos (with Reresby Sitwell); Sahara; The Architecture of Southern England; Glyndebourne; and A History of Venice. He was also the author of a three-volume history of the Byzantine Empire. He wrote and presented some thirty historical documentaries for television, and was a regular lecturer on Venice and numerous other subjects. Lord Norwich was chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund, Co-chairman of the World Monuments Fund and a former member of the Executive Committee of the National Trust. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Geographical Society and the Society of Antiquaries, and a Commendatore of the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana. He was made a CVO in 1993.