France in Modern Times: From the Enlightenment to the Present

by Gordon Wright

European Studies, French Studies, Postmodernism

Genres: History, France, Nonfiction, European History

506 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Gordon Wright was William H. Bonsall Professor of History Emeritus at Stanford University

Reviews

[Sue Pit · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Fifth Edition was last copy righted in 1995, and thus this 'modern' (relative term) times/history goes from 1750 only to 1994 as a result. It is different than the other French history books I have read. It does present very quickly (as there is a lot to cover) the history, but this book seems more geared to someone with a foundation of french history already. The writing then expands upon such facts by doing some analysis, which involve, by way of example, temporal societal, economic, and cultural structure and trends, intellectual currents as well as various theories as to why certain events may have evolved as they did, etc.. While it is oft soporific, it is informative and provides added insight and thus is worth a read.

[Clark Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is very informative but also painfully boring if you don't really care about French history

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As history textbooks go, it wasn't terrible. I liked the quotations at the beginning of each chapter. It gave a good scope, but the tone could have been more engaging. The organization was interesting- flat out history in yearly chunks, followed by several chapters of overview on the business, the intellectual movements, of the larger sections of time.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is comprehensive. If you want to know details about certain episodes of French history, you must supplement this book with .