That Sweet Enemy
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Product Description
Guardian
An "enthralling narrative...intelligent, witty and surprising"
The Observer, April 15, 2007
"each defensive of their homeland while both unimpeachably stringent historians; this approach is a perfect match for their unwieldy subject."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
being puny of bicep, i waited eagerly for the paperback of this rave-reviewed analysis of the relationship between britain and france. i wish now i'd made the effort to go to the gym last year, and could have read it hot off the press. even for someone with a dilettante interest in history, it's a fascinating and insightful read with an undercurrent of gentle observational humour that illuminates the absurdities of diplomacy, politics and prejudice.
more from this talented team, please!
more from this talented team, please!
Format:Paperback
This is a brilliantly written book on the relationship between England and France, from the time of Louis XIV right up to our own era.
The words and themes are beautifully crafted.
The book is a welcome antidote to the futile 'we hate the French' utterances that still pervade some levels of English society.
Frankly (to the Arabs, both the French and English are still termed 'Franks' anyway), it is hard to imagine having a more civilised, cultured or classy foe over the centuries, than the sophisticated French.
Anglo-Saxon England seems to have had a very good relationship with Carolingian France. The adversarial relationship between the two countries presumably began when the Norman French - bitter enemies of the King of France - conquered England.
Thereafter the English people suffered very badly under the mailed fist of William the Conqueror.
Ironically, it was subsequently the French people who sustained trauma for 3 or 4 centuries due to the endless deranged aggression of Norman and Plantagenet Kings of England seeking to rule swathes of France and never caring about the high human cost.
Battles such as Agincourt were not triumphs for the English people, but pointless tragedies for the French.
Anyway, things can become so much better nowadays once these two enlightened, civilised neighbours finally enter into long term friendship?
This wonderful book concludes by saying that the two former imperial powers are today almost identical in population, GDP and diminished military power.
At present the English and French are drawing ever closer militarily and are even beginning to merge their evenly matched forces.
All in all, if I were stranded on a desert island with only 10 books to read, this would be one of them.
The words and themes are beautifully crafted.
The book is a welcome antidote to the futile 'we hate the French' utterances that still pervade some levels of English society.
Frankly (to the Arabs, both the French and English are still termed 'Franks' anyway), it is hard to imagine having a more civilised, cultured or classy foe over the centuries, than the sophisticated French.
Anglo-Saxon England seems to have had a very good relationship with Carolingian France. The adversarial relationship between the two countries presumably began when the Norman French - bitter enemies of the King of France - conquered England.
Thereafter the English people suffered very badly under the mailed fist of William the Conqueror.
Ironically, it was subsequently the French people who sustained trauma for 3 or 4 centuries due to the endless deranged aggression of Norman and Plantagenet Kings of England seeking to rule swathes of France and never caring about the high human cost.
Battles such as Agincourt were not triumphs for the English people, but pointless tragedies for the French.
Anyway, things can become so much better nowadays once these two enlightened, civilised neighbours finally enter into long term friendship?
This wonderful book concludes by saying that the two former imperial powers are today almost identical in population, GDP and diminished military power.
At present the English and French are drawing ever closer militarily and are even beginning to merge their evenly matched forces.
All in all, if I were stranded on a desert island with only 10 books to read, this would be one of them.
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