A History of Modern France, Volume 3: France of the Republics 1871-1962

A History of Modern France #3

by Alfred Cobban

A History of Modern France. Volume 3: 1871-1962 France of the Republics

Genres: History, France, Nonfiction, 20th Century, European History

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Cobban was educated at Latymer Upper School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Before his professorship [in French History] at University College, London, he was a lecturer in history at King's College in Newcastle-on-Tyne. He held a Rockefeller Fellowship for research in France and was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago and Harvard University.

Reviews

[Davy Bennet Surf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it a long time ago. Not much stuck.

Just pulled from attic, it is 3 volumes.
Donating. Excellent.

Read in 2007, all 3 volumes.

[Justin Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid enough, although written with a touch too much hindsight (hard to avoid, I would guess). The Third Republic seems to have been declining for its entire lifetime, and Cobban does battle valiantly to say good stuff came out of it (mostly art). But how much more interesting is the period immediately after this! A shame Alfred didn't get to chronicle it.

[Al Maki]

The set of three are a good overview of France's political history from the last moments of the ancien regime to the current Fifth Republic. I don't know of another nation that has had more than a dozen systems of government in 250 years but remains the same nation through it all.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the most disappointing of the three volumes of French history by Cobban. His patience with the divisiveness and reactionary nature of French politics seems to be wearing thin, and although he has great admiration for the French character, his frustration is evident that as a nation, they have achieved far less than they ought. A worthy, if not particularly enthralling read.