The French - Kindle edition by Theodore Zeldin. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
The French Kindle Edition
by Theodore Zeldin (Author)This is a guide to France intended for the traveller who wants to get to know French people as individuals, for the negotiating businessman and for students who wishes to discover in-depth aspects of their lives. It looks at what makes up the national character of France.
4.8 out of 5 stars 4 customer reviews
Length: 562 pages Word Wise: Enabled
An Intimate History Of Humanity
Theodore Zeldin
4.0 out of 5 stars 32
Kindle Edition
$10.19
The Hidden Pleasures of Life: A New Way of Remembering the Past…
Theodore Zeldin
4.4 out of 5 stars 6
Kindle Edition
$8.21
Print Length: 562 pages
Publisher: Vintage Digital; New Ed edition (December 31, 2012)
Publication Date: December 31, 2012
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TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE
Amazon.com Review
There are a zillion guides to France jostling for position on travel shelves, but none gives more than a cursory Gallic nod to the people some people love to hate--the French themselves. Theodore Zeldin, an Englishman with great insight into his neighbors across the channel, has written the ultimate guide to the French, including how to laugh at their jokes, when to look solemn, how to appreciate French grandmothers, and how not to be intimidated by their intellectuals. It's a sympathetic, funny, serious, richly readable, charming book that hits the spot and fills a need.
Review
"The best expert on France is British citizen. His name is Theodore Zeldin."-Les Nouvelles d'Orléans
"Everything is fascinating in this enquiry by an Englishman who knows us better than we know ourselves."-Livres de France
"Highly intelligent, observant, perceptive, humorous, and sympathetic."-The Spectator
"[This] highly readable...book topples one Gallic Stereotype after another....Centuries of inaccurate assumptions melt away."-Newsweek
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August 13, 2013
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I am North Welsh, and a lifelong lover of all things French. French is my second language, between Welsh and English. Theodore Zeldin gets the French. Having spent years there, and in Francophone West and Central West Africa, mostly Gabon, I applaud Zeldin for attempting the arduous task of bringing this complex people into perspective. I back the French, no matter what. That is historical. That will never change. For those less sure of their allegiances, Zeldin's book, The French, is a must.
November 9, 2012
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I GOT A LOT OF INTERESTING FACTS AND INFORMATION FROM THIS BOOK.
IT WAS ENTERTAINING & FUN TO READ.
MAUREEN
IT WAS ENTERTAINING & FUN TO READ.
MAUREEN
May 16, 2011
Format: Paperback
Theodore Zeldin was born in the British mandate of Palestine in 1933. He is a sociologist and historian, perhaps most famous for his iconic, and idiosyncratic Intimate History of Humanity, An which I have previously reviewed. Though purportedly about all of humanity, that book is heavily weighted towards the French experience, which is perhaps a natural consequence of his "observer" role of the French people from just across the channel. He has also written a four volume "History of French Passions," and I have regrettably only read the last, A History of French Passions: Volume 4 - Taste and Corruption But if I were to recommend only one book on France, to the foreign visitor, or even to the French themselves, who can appreciate an outsider's view, it would be this one. Throw away the guide books: SEE the people, and not the heaps of stones that prior generations have left. This is the first point that Zeldin makes, in his chapter entitled "How to avoid seeing the sights." He discusses what a fellow Englishman, Sir Francis Head, did in Paris in 1852, prior to having "guide books." "... he visited the municipal pawnshops, the asylum for blind youths, where Braille, still unknown in England, was being used, a prison, an orphanage for abandoned children, the Salpetriere old people's home, the morgue, the national printing works... the public laundry"... and on and on. Can we duplicate that today? Not quite, for as Zeldin says: "The rise of bureaucratic officialdom soon stopped that kind of curiosity" As indeed it has, but the enterprising visitor might be able to replicate half of that, and have far more memorable experiences than playing monument tag as the guide books would advocate.
All Zeldin's chapter heading start with "how," "what," "where," or "why." He is not a "niche" player; virtually any aspect of the human condition can interest him. Sample headings include: "What lovers want from each other," "How small shopkeepers survive," "How not to be intimidated by their intellectuals," and "What becomes of the drop-outs." In his meandering style there are many unique observations provided by a fresh perspective. For example, he cites an opinion poll taken in 1961, asking American women to name their ideal man. Three Americans were named, along with the actor Yves Montand, of Z: The Criterion Collection fame, and much else. There is a telling portrait of Montand's poor upbringing in Marseille. Zeldin also provides the background and operating philosophy of my favorite French newspaper, "Liberation." Alas, I suspect it has been hammered by "economic forces" since this description. He notes that "The unification of France was achieved in the nineteenth century, at the beginning of which something like a quarter of the inhabitants spoke no French at all and another quarter were virtually incapable of conducting a continuous conversation in it" This is a subject covered in greater detail in the excellent The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography.
In terms of the elites, Zeldin identifies the "filter": "Math has replaced Latin as the instrument for selecting the elite, the prestige of this elite can be judged by the fact that an unusually large number of people are called scientists and engineers..." On immigration, the author notes: "France has something else in common with the America of the nineteenth century, where prosperity was, of course, originally partly built on slavery." Quoting from "Le Monde,": "My thesis is that the immigrant workers are a new sort of slaves."
There are numerous editions of this work; mine is dated from 1995, published by Harvill Press in London. It contains a number of incisive cartoons illustrating points about French life. It is over 500 pages, but I never wanted it to end. Zeldin's anecdotal approach to French life is brilliant, and his erudition shines through. Keep the "let's look at the stones" guidebooks at the bottom of the pile. This one should be your daily travel companion. 5-stars plus.
All Zeldin's chapter heading start with "how," "what," "where," or "why." He is not a "niche" player; virtually any aspect of the human condition can interest him. Sample headings include: "What lovers want from each other," "How small shopkeepers survive," "How not to be intimidated by their intellectuals," and "What becomes of the drop-outs." In his meandering style there are many unique observations provided by a fresh perspective. For example, he cites an opinion poll taken in 1961, asking American women to name their ideal man. Three Americans were named, along with the actor Yves Montand, of Z: The Criterion Collection fame, and much else. There is a telling portrait of Montand's poor upbringing in Marseille. Zeldin also provides the background and operating philosophy of my favorite French newspaper, "Liberation." Alas, I suspect it has been hammered by "economic forces" since this description. He notes that "The unification of France was achieved in the nineteenth century, at the beginning of which something like a quarter of the inhabitants spoke no French at all and another quarter were virtually incapable of conducting a continuous conversation in it" This is a subject covered in greater detail in the excellent The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography.
In terms of the elites, Zeldin identifies the "filter": "Math has replaced Latin as the instrument for selecting the elite, the prestige of this elite can be judged by the fact that an unusually large number of people are called scientists and engineers..." On immigration, the author notes: "France has something else in common with the America of the nineteenth century, where prosperity was, of course, originally partly built on slavery." Quoting from "Le Monde,": "My thesis is that the immigrant workers are a new sort of slaves."
There are numerous editions of this work; mine is dated from 1995, published by Harvill Press in London. It contains a number of incisive cartoons illustrating points about French life. It is over 500 pages, but I never wanted it to end. Zeldin's anecdotal approach to French life is brilliant, and his erudition shines through. Keep the "let's look at the stones" guidebooks at the bottom of the pile. This one should be your daily travel companion. 5-stars plus.
June 24, 1998
Format: Paperback
I bought this book at Shakespeare & Co. in Paris before there was an Amazon.com to offer it at such an excellent price. Still I feel I got my money's worth. It is true the essays in this book rely a lot on the opinions of the author but Theodore Zeldin has supplemented them with interviews, cartoons, charts, and footnotes which leave the reader feeling he has stumbled upon a textbook of the highest order. Whether you are wondering about French humor (what's with that Jerry Lewis thing) or which blood types are the most common the information is here. Save yourself a lot of money, buy the book here and enjoy.
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