France in Modern Times: From the Enlightenment to the Present

by Gordon Wright

Book Overview

This text charts the political history of France from the 18th century to the present, interspersing narrative with chapters on society, the economy, culture and historiography. This edition reflects... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393955826
• ISBN13: 9780393955828
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 506 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

France in Modern Times/Gordon Wright

The beauty of this book is that it addresses ideas and forces in modern France that are rendered accessible to the general reader and helpful to advanced students as well. Wright's style makes this an interesting and useful work. the number of editions the book has gone through attest to its popularity. It is a must for any serious student of modern Europe.

A Window into French History

I should make it clear that I have only read the first half of this book, covering the period 1750 to the Paris Commune of 1871, because that was the period I was interested in. First of all it is very readable, written in a leisurely, coffee in the drawing room sort of style. As he goes along Wright reviews the views of different historians and always considers different points of view which are perhaps particularly important in this period of history, inclusive as it was of three revolutions or near things, many changes of constitution, written or unwritten and the passage from the Ancien Regime to the stability of the later republics. It is interesting to me that whereas France struggled in these years to find a form of government it was happy with, unlike England, it produced in the last three hundred years a string of original thinkers who are the envy of the world. The French Revolution was a game played to the hilt and the Ancien Regime itself was in a way the same thing, an all or nothing affair. French culture adopts the same style. Wright has chapters on politics, social matters, foreign policy and culture. The book is a pleasure to read.

Great general history and textbook

An excellent and very readable history of France from the French Revolution to the Mitterand presidency. Wright covers all the major events in concise readable prose. Although this is frequently assigned as a text for college and graduate level French and European history classes, it is also suited for a general reader who wants to learn more about Modern France. As for the question as to whether this book discusses the demographic shifts in France in the late 20th century, it does not. This is the 1995 revision of a book that was conceived in the late 1960s by a European history professor at Stanford. It is really a survey of 1789 to 1980 without much discussion of the growing Islamic population in France.

A Must Have for French History Students

Gordon Wright's "France In Modern Times" is an all-encompassing book about French history from the start of the 1789 Revolution to contemporary times. This book has been required reading in all of my French history classes and with good reason: it clearly defines the main themes of French history in language that everyone can understand. In other words, one does not have to be a professional historian or a graduate student like myself in order to understand the points that Wright is highlighting. Furthermore, Wright gives an outstanding bibliography that enables one to continue their research on the various topics that he discusses within the book. If you are looking for one book on modern French history, this is the one that you should buy!