MU Libraries New Books: History - France - Andorra - Monaco

About the new book list

11/18/2009

The RSS feeds for the new books list is updated every Wednesday and contains a list of books added to the Ellis Library collection for the last six weeks. The titles are grouped by call number classification, and are listed by week and alphabetically by title.

Books for the most recent weeks are currently on the New Books Shelves inside the north entrance of Ellis Library. They can be checked out.

Can Islam be French? : pluralism and pragmatism in a secularist state / John R. Bowen. (11/4/2009)

11/4/2009

View title at
Amazon.com

Olivier Roy, European University Institute, Florence )

Call #: DC34.5.M87 B68 2010

Les stucs de l'antiquité tardive de Vouneuil-sous-Biard (Vienne) : collection des musées de la ville de Poitiers / sous la direction de Christian Sapin [contributions de] Luc Bourgeois... [et al.]. (10/14/2009)

10/14/2009

View title at
Amazon.com

Call #: DC30 .G32 Suppl. 60

The secret wife of Louis XIV : Françoise d'Aubigné, Madame de Maintenon / Veronica Buckley. (10/14/2009)

10/14/2009

View title at
Amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Buckley (Christina, Queen of Sweden) serves up a superior biography of a remarkable woman who, most improbably, became the Sun King's second wife. Françoise d'Aubigné (1635–1719) was born in a grim prison, the daughter of a disinherited nobleman and traitor and a mother incapable of loving her. These facts, and a financially uncertain childhood, including a three-year sojourn in the Caribbean, contributed to the intelligent Françoise's resilience but also to a deep emotional insecurity. A marriage of convenience to a renowned but crippled scholar brought her new social connections, which she, a lovely, popular young woman, exploited when she was widowed, becoming the governess of the secret illegitimate children of Louis XIV and Athenais de Montespan. Françoise, aged 39, succumbed to being Louis's mistress after resisting for a year, ambitiously supplanted Athenais, who was implicated in the infamous poisons affair, and after the queen died in 1683, Françoise married Louis, although the marriage remained secret. Buckley trains her intent gaze on 17th-century France—from the civil and religious wars that plagued the Bourbons to lively Parisian salons— offering a graceful, vivid portrait of a woman of intelligence and dignity. 16 pages of color illus. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Call #: DC130.M2 B9 2009

The terror of natural right : republicanism, the cult of nature, and the French Revolution / Dan Edelstein. (10/14/2009)

10/14/2009

View title at
Amazon.com

Review

"This is a brilliant, provocative, enormously compelling book. Edelstein has produced one of the most important studies of the French Revolution in many years, and one that is sure to make a major mark on the study of European history." - David Bell, Johns Hopkins University"

Call #: DC183.5 .E445 2009

The virgin warrior : the life and death of Joan of Arc / Larissa Juliet Taylor. (10/14/2009)

10/14/2009

View title at
Amazon.com

Review

"'If you have been looking for one book that explains how this remarkable teenage girl could accomplish all that she achieved, then this is it.' Mack P. Holt, author of The French Wars of Religion 'This is an absorbing book that is almost impossible to put down.' Frederic J. Baumgartner, author of France in the Sixteenth Century 'This fine biography brings Joan fully to life not as a symbol for other eras but as a remarkable flesh and blood woman, who shaped her country and her times.'" Keith P. Luria, North Carolina State University"

Call #: DC103 .T39 2009

Why the Dreyfus Affair matters / Louis Begley. (10/14/2009)

10/14/2009

View title at
Amazon.com

Review

"No other work in English on the Dreyfus Affair matches the clarity, the concision, and the passion of this one. A lawyer and novelist, Louis Begley explains the legal technicalities and untangles a byzantine narrative. He shows why this abuse of power should still concern us today."- Robert O. Paxton, author of The Anatomy of Fascism (Robert Paxton )

"I can't imagine a more unequivocal, socially acute, or legally astute book about the whole hateful Dreyfus Affair than Louis Begley's "Why Dreyfus Matters." Add to that the limpidity, the novelist's eye, the moral passion, and the very considerable narrative gifts that have made Begley's fiction famous, and you have one of French history's most tellingly muddled moments, distilled and restored to the drama it in fact was for the country it divided."-Jane Kramer (Jane Kramer )

Call #: DC354 .B44 2009

La nécropole méridionale d'Aix-en-Provence : (Ier - VIe siècles apr. J.-C.) : les fouilles de la ZAC Sextius Mirabeau : (1994 - 2000) / Núria Nin et Paul Bailet ... [et al.]. (10/7/2009)

10/7/2009

Call #: DC801.A325 N66 2006

Rethinking France = Les lieux de mémoire / translated by Mary Trouille under the direction of Pierre Nora translation directed by David P. Jordan. (10/7/2009)

10/7/2009

View title at
Amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly
Assembled by the editorial director of France's ditions Gallimard, these 11 essays focus on the central role of the state in French history. The essayists, some of France's leading contemporary intellectuals, use the concept of lieux de m‚moire (places of memory) to explore a wide array of topics, such as the symbolism of Versailles, the changing legacy of Charlemagne, the importance of memoirs in the construction of French history, and the omnipresence of French regionalism. Alain Gu‚ry's brilliant essay describes the philosophical underpinnings of French statism: "The originality of the French is to have made the common good into an attribute of the state." Thus, whenever the French have confronted a crisis, they've sought statist solutions. H‚lŠne Himelfarb's fine contribution argues that in 1871, after France's crushing defeat by the Prussians, the victors used the Chƒteau of Versailles which had symbolized French power since the time of Louis XIV as the spot where humiliating peace terms were signed. In 1918, France returned the favor, also at Versailles. These essays, it must be said, reflect the French love of abstraction. This can be a delight, as in Himelfarb's essay, or a reason for hair-pulling frustration, as with Alain Boureau ("The King"), whose prose gets lost in a theoretical thicket: "the kings of the Old Regime served as a concrete and empirical representation of the social bond, prior to any political theorizing, in exactly the same way as the mnemonic trace or representation of an archaic event serves to structure the contradictory affects that make up the personality in the Freudian system." Nevertheless, the majority of these essays are worthwhile for those with an interest in France's proud national identity. Illus.

From Library Journal
This is an English translation of a major publishing enterprise begun in France during the Mitterand years. Bold, brilliant, and ambitious, it aims to write a new kind of history of France, one that is not political or social but cultural and intellectual. The guiding genius of this collective historical enterprise is Pierre Nora, director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, who has directed editorial work on this seven-volume project since 1984. The guiding technique of this series is the concept of a "lieu de m?moire." Although the term defies precise translation, it is used to mean individuals, institutions, places, and cultural phenomena that have shaped the way the past is remembered in the present. In this volume, Nora has assembled 11 essays written by some of France's most celebrated writers and intellectuals. The common theme is the notion of the state: how the French have come to see themselves politically and why. The essays touch on fascinating and unexpected topics like the changing image of Charlemagne, the image of the king over time, and the views of France presented in the memoirs of public men. This is an important book to be appreciated by scholars and specialists in the field and a strong complement to Pierre Birnbaum's The Idea of France (LJ 7/01). Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Les Lieux de mémoire is perhaps one of the most profound historical documents on the history and culture of the French nation. Assembled by Pierre Nora during the Mitterand years, this multivolume series has been hailed as "a magnificent achievement" (The New Republic) and "the grandest, most ambitious effort to dissect, interpret and celebrate the French fascination with their own past" (The Los Angeles Times). Written during a time when French national identity was undergoing a pivotal change and the nation was struggling to define itself, this unprecedented series consists of essays by prominent historians and cultural commentators which take, as their points of departure, a lieu de mémoire: a site of memory used to order, concentrate, and secure notions of France's past.

The first volume in the Chicago translation, Rethinking France, brings together works addressing the omnipresent role of the state in French life. As in the other volumes, the lieux de mémoire serve as entries into the French past, whether they are actual sites, political traditions, rituals, or even national pastimes and textbooks. Volume I: The State offers a sophisticated and engaging view of the French and their past through widely diverse essays on, for example, the château of Versailles and the French history of absolutism; the Code civil and its ordering of French life; memoirs written by French statesmen; and Charlemagne and his place in French history. Nora's authors constitute a who's who of French academia, yet they wear their erudition lightly. Taken as a whole, this extraordinary series documents how the French have come to see themselves and why.

Contributors:
Alain Guéry
Maurice Agulhon
Bernard Guenée
Daniel Nordman
Robert Morrissey
Alain Boureau
Anne-Marie Lecoq
Hélène Himelfarb
Jean Carbonnier
Hervé Le Bras
Pierre Nora

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

From the Inside Flap

Les Lieux de mémoire is perhaps one of the most profound historical documents on the history and culture of the French nation. Assembled by Pierre Nora during the Mitterand years, this multivolume series has been hailed as a "magnificent achievement" (New Republic) and "the grandest, most ambitious effort to dissect, interpret and celebrate the French fascination with their own past" (Los Angeles Times). Written during a time when French national identity was undergoing a pivotal change and the nation was struggling to define itself, this unprecedented series consists of essays by prominent historians and cultural commentators which take, as their points of departure, a lieu de mémoire: a site of memory used to order, concentrate, and secure notions of France's past.

The first volume in the Chicago translation, Rethinking France, brings together works addressing the omnipresent role of the state in French life. As in the other volumes, the lieux de mémoire serve as entries into the French past, whether they are actual sites, political traditions, rituals, or even national pastimes and textbooks. Volume I: The State offers a sophisticated and engaging view of the French and their past through widely diverse essays on, for example, the château of Versailles and the French history of absolutism; the Code civil and its ordering of French life; memoirs written by French statesmen; and Charlemagne and his place in French history. Nora's contributors constitute a who's who of French academia, yet they wear their erudition lightly. Taken as a whole, this extraordinary series documents how the French have come to see themselves and why.

About the Author

Pierre Nora is editorial director at Éditions Gallimard. Since 1977, he has been directeur d'Études at the École des Hautes Études en Science Sociales. He is the founding editor of Le DÉbat and has directed the editorial work on Les Lieux de mÉmoire since 1984. In 2001 he was elected to the AcadÉmie Française. David P. Jordan is the LAS Distinguished Professor of French History at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of Transforming Paris and The Revolutionary Career of Maximilien Robespierre, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

Call #: DC33 .L6513 2001

Under the shadow of defeat : the war of 1870-71 in French memory / Karine Varley. (10/7/2009)

10/7/2009

View title at
Amazon.com

Review
'This is an excellent work, felicitously written and accessible to the general reader as well as specialists. The case studies provide lively examples of the issues being discussed, and Varley has gracefully incorporated many theoretical and historiographical perspectives on her topic. It will be the authoritative examination of the subject, sure to appeal to specialists in French History, Cultural Studies, Heritage Studies and Military Studies.' - Professor Robert Aldrich, The University of Sydney, Australia

Product Description

The French defeat of 1870-1 sparked soul-searching and a reassessment of the character of the nation. This book is the first to explore how memories of the Franco-Prussian War shaped French political culture and identities. It argues that these memories reawakened deep political divisions, distorting them through the prism of the "terrible year." It sheds new light on how people constructed memories not only to define and articulate their ideas, but also to situate themselves within new concepts of France.

Book Description

The first book to explore how memories of the Franco-Prussian War shaped French political culture and identities.

About the Author
KARINE VARLEY is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, the University of Leeds, and Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. She has lectured at Durham University and is currently Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Edinburgh.

Call #: DC325 .V37 2008

La nécropole méridionale d'Aix-en-Provence : (Ier - VIe siècles apr. J.-C.) : les fouilles de la ZAC Sextius Mirabeau : (1994 - 2000) / Núria Nin et Paul Bailet ... [et al.]. (9/30/2009)

9/30/2009

Call #: DC801.A325 N66 2006

Past convictions : the penance of Louis the Pious and the decline of the Carolingians / Courtney M. Booker. (9/30/2009)

9/30/2009

View title at
Amazon.com

Review

"Booker is not content to question prevailing interpretations of a single set of events. Instead, he revises at least two centuries' worth of ways of knowing about them. Past Convictions will have paradigmatic significance for scholars seeking to know how various interpretations assumed their adamantine forms."—Thomas F. X. Noble, University of Notre Dame

Product Description

How do people, in both the past and the present, think about moments of social and political crisis, and how do they respond to them? What are the interpretive codes by which troubling events are read and given meaning, and what part do these codes play in suggesting specific strategies for coping with the world? In Past Convictions Courtney Booker attempts to answer these questions by examining the controversial divestiture and public penance of Charlemagne's son, the Emperor Louis the Pious, in 833.

Historians have customarily viewed the event as marking the beginning of the end of the Carolingian dynasty. Exploring how both contemporaries and subsequent generations thought about Louis's forfeiture of the throne, Booker contends that certain vivid ninth-century narratives reveal a close but ephemeral connection between historiography and the generic conventions of comedy and tragedy. In tracing how writers of later centuries built upon these dramatic Carolingian accounts to tell a larger story of faith, betrayal, political expediency, and decline, he explicates the ways historiography shapes our vision of the past and what we think we know about it, and the ways its interpretive models may fall short.

About the Author
Courtney M. Booker teaches history at the University of British Columbia.

Call #: DC74 .B66 2009

Walled towns and the shaping of France : from the medieval to the early modern era / Michael Wolfe. (9/23/2009)

9/23/2009

View title at
Amazon.com

Review

“This book covers much new ground in relating the history of France's town-walls and fortifications to the general history of the country. It is based on a formidable reading of the scattered sources, and will lead many readers to material that they had not known.”--David Buisseret, formerly Garrett Professor of History, University of Texas at Arlington

Product Description

This book focuses on the ways in which military technology, political and social trends, and shifting frontiers shaped the emergence of new forms of public authority and civic life as embodied in the “wall,” an image at once intensely physical and deeply symbolic. It traces the evolution of towns across much of what is today France from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century when the walls began to come down, opening up new, ultimately revolutionary possibilities for urban life. This long-term perspective on town fortifications—how they were built, the contests to control them, and how they shaped the lives of people both inside and outside them—in the end tell us much about the making of France.

Book Description

This book focuses on the development of towns in France, taking into account military technology, physical geography, shifting regional networks tying urban communities together, and the emergence of new forms of public authority and civic life.

About the Author

Michael Wolfe is Professor of History and Graduate Dean of Arts and Sciences at St. John’s University. He is the author or editor of five previous books, including The Conversion of Henri IV (1993), Changing Identities in Early Modern France (1997) and The Medieval City Under Siege (1999).

Call #: DC33.2 .W65 2009