Stefan Zweig Marie-Antoinette Vilipendée par les uns, sanctifiée par les autres, l'« Autrichienne » Marie-Antoinette est la reine la plus méconnue de l'histoire de France. Il fallut attendre Stefan Zweig, en 1933, pour que la passion cède à la vérité.
S'appuyant sur les archives de l'Empire autrichien et sur la correspondance du comte Axel de Fersen, qu'il fut le premier à pouvoir consulter intégralement, Stefan Zweig retrace avec sensibilité et rigueur l'évolution de la jeune princesse, trop tôt appelée au trône, que la faiblesse et l'impuissance temporaire de Louis XVI vont précipiter dans un tourbillon de distractions et de fêtes.
Dans ce contexte, la sombre affaire du collier, habilement exploitée par ses nombreux ennemis à la cour de France, va inexorablement éloigner Marie-Antoinette de son peuple.
Tracé avec humanité et pénétration, ce portrait est assurément un des chefs-d'oeuvre de la biographie classique, où excella l'auteur de Trois poètes de leur vie et de Vingt-quatre heures de la vie d'une femme.
The Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending takes us on a rich, witty tour of Belle Epoque Paris, via the life story of the pioneering surgeon Samuel Pozzi. **SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE 2019** In the summer of 1885, three Frenchmen arrived in London for a few days'' shopping. One was a Prince, one was a Count, and the third was a commoner with an Italian name, who four years earlier had been the subject of one of John Singer Sargent''s greatest portraits. The commoner was Samuel Pozzi, society doctor, pioneer gynaecologist and free-thinker - a rational and scientific man with a famously complicated private life. Pozzi''s life played out against the backdrop of the Parisian Belle Epoque. The beautiful age of glamour and pleasure more often showed its ugly side: hysterical, narcissistic, decadent and violent, a time of rampant prejudice and blood-and-soil nativism, with more parallels to our own age than we might imagine. The Man in the Red Coat is at once a fresh and original portrait of the Belle Epoque - its heroes and villains, its writers, artists and thinkers - and a life of a man ahead of his time. Witty, surprising and deeply researched, the new book from Julian Barnes illuminates the fruitful and longstanding exchange of ideas between Britain and France, and makes a compelling case for keeping that exchange alive. ''An absolute tonic for grey winter days'' Evening Standard
This is a profoundly original and entertaining history of France, from the first century BC to the present day, based on countless new discoveries and thirty years of exploring France on foot, by bicycle and in the library. Each chapter comprises an adventure in its own right, each with distinct style. They begin with the Roman army''s first recorded encounter with the Gauls and end with the gilet jaunes protests in the era of Emmanuel Macron. Along the way, readers will find the usual faces, events and themes of French history - Louis XIV, the French Revolution, the French Resistance, the Tour de France - but all presented in a shining new light. Graham Robb''s new book does not offer a standard dry list of facts and dates, but a panorama of France, teeming with characters, full of stories, journeys and coincidences, giving readers a thrilling sense of discovery and enlightenment. France is a vivid, living history of one of the world''s most fascinating nations by a ceaselessly entertaining writer in complete command of subject and style.
Now a major motion picture directed by Ridley Scott starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Jodie Comer. In 1386, a few days after Christmas, a massive crowd gathered at a Paris monastery to watch two men fight a duel to the death. A trial by combat to prove which man''s cause was right in God''s sight. The dramatic story of the knight, the squire and the lady unfolds during the tumultuous fourteenth century. A time of war, plague and anarchy, as well as of honour, chivalry, and courtly love. The notorious quarrel appears in many histories of France, but no writer has recounted it in full, until now. _______________________________________________________________ ''Succeeds brilliantly in combining page-turning intensity with eye-opening insights'' Sunday Times ''Suspenseful and well written'' Spectator
NEW UPDATED EDITION Was the Battle of Hastings a French victory? Non! William the Conqueror was Norman and hated the French. Were the Brits really responsible for the death of Joan of Arc? Non! The French sentenced her to death for wearing trousers. Did the French write "God Save the Queen"? Non! But that''s what they claim. Ten centuries'' worth of French historical ''facts'' bite the dust as Stephen Clarke looks at what has really been going on since 1066 ... Featuring new annoyances - both historical and recent - inflicted on the French, including Napoleon''s "banned" chamber pot, Louis XIV''s painful operation, Anglo-French jibes during the 2012 London Olympics, French niggles about William and Kate''s royal wedding, and much more ...
WINNER OF THE FRANCO-BRITISH SOCIETY BOOK PRIZE 2016 June, 1940. German troops enter Paris and hoist the swastika over the Arc de Triomphe. The dark days of Occupation begin. How would you have survived? By collaborating with the Nazis, or risking the lives of you and your loved ones to resist? The women of Paris faced this dilemma every day - whether choosing between rations and the black market, or travelling on the Metro, where a German soldier had priority for a seat. Between the extremes of defiance and collusion was a vast moral grey area which all Parisiennes had to navigate in order to survive. Anne Sebba has sought out and interviewed scores of women, and brings us their unforgettable testimonies. Her fascinating cast includes both native Parisiennes and temporary residents: American women and Nazi wives; spies, mothers, mistresses, artists, fashion designers and aristocrats. The result is an enthralling account of life during the Second World War and in the years of recovery and recrimination that followed the Liberation of Paris in 1944. It is a story of fear, deprivation and secrets - and, as ever in the French capital, glamour and determination.
A concise history of France from prehistory to the present, recounting the great events and personalities and exploring France's cultural and political influence today.
Artists, martyrs, kings, revolutionaries: France's sense of national identity is inextricably linked to its dramatic history, which fascinates the world and attracts millions each year to visit its chateaux and cathedrals, boulevards and vineyards. Ancient roots allied to a social, political and military history that has witnessed revolution, conflict and occupation mean that France holds a unique position in the modern world. In this short, easy-to-digest history of a vast subject, Jeremy Black succinctly narrates how France's past has created its distinct character.
Country and destination, nation and idea, France has an incomparable cultural legacy, and exerts a powerful artistic, intellectual and political influence across the globe. Black's vivid take on history emphasizes the unexpected nature of events and unpredictable outcomes on a fragmented country, from the prehistoric cave paintings of Lascaux to the origins of Gothic architecture, from Monet and Degas to the Lumiere brothers, and from the cataclysm of the 1789 Revolution through the countercultural student protests of 1968 to today's gilets jaunes. Black's concise, insightful tour of the key historical moments and vibrant personalities that shaped France provides an indispensable guide to understanding the country today.
Des rois Capétiens aux présidents de la Ve république, des anonymes ayant réalisé les premières peintures rupestres aux intellectuels et artistes contemporains médiatisés, Cecil Jenkins, déjà auteur de "France : Peoples, History and Culture" propose ici une nouvelle Histoire accessible de la France entre art, politique et grands événements populaires.
WINNER OF THE GRAND PRIX DU LIVRE D'IDeES The French: serious and frivolous, charming and infuriating, rational and mystical, pessimistic, pleasure-loving - and perhaps more than any other people, intellectual. This original and entertaining book shows exactly what makes the French so ... French.
Réédition en format broché pour cette biographie, la plus complète et la plus à jour en anglais sur le Louis XIV. L'auteur Philippe Mansel s'appuie sur les dernières recherches en France, en Grande-Bretagne et aux Etats-Unis sur le Roi Soleil et porte une attention particulière à la culture de la cour, sur laquelle il est un expert reconnu. Il réalise ainsi un portrait précis d'un homme qui, trois cents ans après sa mort, incarne encore l'idée du grand monarque.
Recreating the ups and downs in the history of Paris and its inhabitants, this book seeks to give a sense of the city as it was lived in and experienced over time. It is intended for habitual Paris obsessives, for first-time visitors, and for those who know the city only by repute.
We are endlessly fascinated by the French. We are fascinated by their way of life, their creativity, sophistication and self-assurance, and even their insistence that they are exceptional. But how did France become the country it is today, and what really sets it apart? Journalist and historian Peter Watson sets out to answer these questions in The French Mind, a dazzling history of France that takes us from the seventeenth century to the present day through the nations most influential thinkers. He opens the doors to the Renaissance salons that were a breeding ground for poets, philosophers and scientists, and tells the forgotten stories of the extraordinary succession of women who ran these institutions, fostering a culture of stylish intellectualism unmatched anywhere else in the world. Its a story that takes us into Bohemian cafes and cabarets, into chic Parisian high culture via French philosophies of food, fashion and sex, while growing unrest hastens the bloody birth of a republic. From the 1789 revolution to the countrys occupation by Nazi Germany, Watson argues that a unique series of devastating military defeats helped shape the resilient, proud, innovative character of the French. This is a history of breathtaking ambition, propelled by the characters Watson brings to vivid life: the writers, revolutionaries and painters who loved, inspired and rivalled one another over four hundred years. It documents the shaping of a nation whose global influence, in art, culture and politics, cannot be overstated. _____________________________________________ PRAISE FOR THE GERMAN GENIUS A tour de force . . . a breath-taking panorama Sunday Times Compelling, epic Financial Times Heroic. . . . Watson is never not good company Guardian
Nouvelle édition brochée : pour cette biographie en anglais d'un grand homme d'État français des temps modernes. En six semaines au début de l'été 1940, la France est submergée par les troupes allemandes et se rend rapidement. Le gouvernement français du maréchal Pétain a intenté un procès en faveur de la paix et signé un armistice. Un jeune général français peu connu, refusant d'accepter la défaite, s'est rendu en Angleterre. Le 18 juin, il a parlé à ses compatriotes à propos de la BBC, les exhortant à se rassembler à Londres. "Quoi qu'il arrive, la flamme de la résistance française ne doit pas être éteinte et ne l'éteindra pas." À ce moment, Charles de Gaulle est entré dans l'histoire. De Gaulle mordit fréquemment la main qui le nourrissait pendant le reste de la guerre. Il insista pour être traité comme la véritable incarnation de la France et se brouilla violemment avec Churchill et Roosevelt. Il était piquant, têtu, distant et autonome.
The Other Paris scuttles through the knotted pre-Haussmann streets, through the improvised accommodations of the original bohemians, through the whorehouses and dance halls and hobo shelters of the old city. A lively survey of labor conditions, prostitution, drinking, crime, and popular entertainment, and of the reporters, réaliste singers, pamphleteers, and poets who chronicled their evolution, The Other Paris is a book meant to upend the story of the French capital, to reclaim the city from the bons vivants and the speculators, and to hold a light to the work and lives of those expunged from its center by the forces of profit.
'I loved every word' - Sarra Manning, Red '[A] blissful book - it's like basking in the warm Med' - Rachel Johnson, Mail on Sunday The Riviera Set is the story of the group of people who lived, partied, bed-hopped and politicked at the Château de l'Horizon near Cannes, over the course of forty years from the time when Coco Chanel made southern French tans fashionable in the twenties to the death of the playboy Prince Aly Khan in 1960. At the heart of this was the amazing Maxine Elliott, the daughter of a fisherman from Connecticut, who built the beautiful art deco Château and brought together the likes of Noel Coward, the Aga Khan, the Windsors and two very saucy courtesans, Doris Castlerosse and Daisy Fellowes, who set out to be dangerous distractions to Winston Churchill as he worked on his journalism and biographies during his 'wilderness years' in the thirties. After the War the story continued as the Château changed hands and Prince Aly Khan used it to entertain the Hollywood set, as well as launch his seduction of and eventual marriage to Rita Hayworth. 'Lovell dissects their lives and curates the interesting parts, bringing together the creme of high society. A sparkling group biography that brings to life a bygone era' - The Lady
The three superstars of turn-of-the-century Parisian high society were Geneviève Halévy Bizet Straus; Laure de Sade, Comtesse Adhéaume de Chevigné; and Élisabeth de Riquet de Caraman-Chimay, Comtesse Greffulhe. All unhappily married, these women sought fulfillment by reinventing themselves as icons, and their fabled salons inspired generations of artists, composers, and writers.
B>A riveting, on-the-edge-of-your-seat tale about the notorious 1978 kidnapping of Baron Édouard-Jean Wado Empain, intertwined with the story of his famous grandfather, the first baron and builder of the Paris Métro. A multigenerational saga told against the backdrops of both Belle Époque and 1970s high-fashion Paris.br>/b>br> What does it take to create a dynasty? What does it take to keep one going? And what does it take to save the life of the dazzling but flawed man who inherited it all? Launched in the 1880s by the first baron, the Empain industrial empire spread from Belgium and France to span more than a dozen countries. When Wado took over, he further expanded the company, became a key player in Frances nuclear sector, and, by the mid-1970s, was one of the countrys most powerful business leaders--a self-described master of the universe. But these were also the years of lead, marked by a rash of high-profile kidnappings around the globe, including the headline-grabbing seizure of American heiress Patty Hearst.br>br> Wados vertiginous rise caught the eye of Alain Cailloll, a small-time gangster who had grown up in a wealthy family before embracing a life of crime. On January 23, 1978, Caillol and his confederates snatched the baron off the Paris streets, sure that theyd get the 80 million francs they demanded in ransom. To show they meant business, they chopped off Wados little finger and warned that more body parts would follow.br> br> But nothing unfolded as the kidnappers, or Wado himself, expected. Would Empains company pay? Could his family afford this astronomical sum? How much was the life of a leader, a father, and a husband worth? Most important, could a determined police chief and his crack investigators outsmart the kidnappers? The answers to those questions unspooled over two months in a tangle of events leading to a bloody showdown whose consequences would prove fatal to the Empain dynasty.
