1000 Years of Annoying the French [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2012] STEPHEN CLARKE

A tongue in cheek review of French history. I keep it in the car and since it contains short vignettes of historical events, you can read one while waiting for your spouse to get the groceries.

A brilliant and hilarious history of the English and the French, and the thousand years from the Battle of Hastings to present day. He confirmed my own attitudes from my experience in France. That is, annoying the French is a lot of fun since it's so easy to annoy them. As an historian, Mr. Clarke is well-educated and quite good at recounting details of the relationship of the English and the French in the droll humor the English are known for. His history is also quite accurate but more, he tells it a series of laugh out loud anecdotes. I enjoyed this book immensely -- partly because of the usually needless foibles of the monarchs and their minions, but mainly because of the wonderful sense of humor about it all that Mr. Clarke provides. This is a very accurate history of the English in France, expertly written by one of England's great humorists. I highly recommend it to anyone who reads history. and enjoys history, but also enjoys laughing at the French. They really are quite a silly bunch.

This is my first Stephen Clark and I really enjoyed it. I am no history major, but what it gave me was a sufficient, fun and easy-to-read introduction into French (and English) history over the past millenium. It also does well at giving some insight into the Dark Ages, feudal life, death, torture, revenge, intrigue and suffering (which seem to have typified those time), the way the aristocracy carried on, war, more war, the Renaissance and Victorian times. Again, I am not here to critically pick it apart like some academic, but what I do think that what is does do is give the lay reader a fun introduction into what is an inordinately large quantum of history without having to grind through vast tomes. Naturally, there is going to be superficiality at time, but that's fine with me. I definitely enjoyed his sense of humour. So, if you want a fun read and want to whizz by and enjoy the last 1000 years of this era (at the expense of the French), then I highly recommend you read this.

This book about the history of relations between Britain and France is really, really amusing. The author has that wry British humor that sneaks up on you. I'm guessing this book will be more amusing to Brit and American readers than to French readers. However, this is not just a humor book. I learned a lot, and had an amusing time learning. The book covers everything from William the Conqueror to the Channel Tunnel, and lots in between. I particularly enjoyed the parts about Napoleon, Mary Queen of Scots, "French" food, the French Revolution, champagne, the less than stellar way many French people conducted themselves during WWII, and the part about Charles De Gaulle. I do realize that this is one author's take on history, and other historians, particularly French historians might have different opinions. I will definitely read more books by this excellent author. I have downloaded samples of his fiction and non-fiction books. Highly recommend this book.

It took me forever to finish this book, because it was just NOT funny enough to keep me turning the pages. Honestly, it took me about two years to finish it. I loaded it in my phone and would read bits and pieces while waiting in lines or traffic jams. I finally made one final long slog just to get it out of the way. I have read three of Clarke's earlier books and enjoyed them. I think his problem in writing this book was not being able to stop with the funny bits; he always feels compelled to give all the NON-funny bits of history as well. He should have learned from the two classics of this genre, "1066 And All That" and "It All Started With Columbus," both of which are in the 120-page zone. Clarke's book is almost 400 pages long, which is more than both earlier (and better) books put together, with a couple of Terry Deary's "Horrible Histories" thrown in. So yes, there are some good historical laughs about the relation of England and France, but they are few and far between. Clarke needs to be reminded that brevity is the soul of wit.

One of the best books I have read in recent history (pardon the pun). Let's face it - currently American history classes do a seriously lightweight job of teaching European history. For purposes of this review, I will refrain from discussing why this is so. This book provides both humor and enough of the detailed intertwining of all the various parties that the reader can understand the flow of history. As an engineer, I get to point out that there are no independent variables in history. Today is the product of all of yesterday's opportunities (and missed opportunities). I will also confess that I tend to share passages from books I am reading with my wife. She finds this annoying, but I cannot help myself. In this case, sharing the more humorous passages with her was probably not the best idea I ever had, given her French ancestry. But - for the record - this history book is the most amusing thing I've read in the past several years.

The author has a great deal of fun with analyzing the French through history and their interaction, in particular, with the English. Rather than reading a stuffy, boring book on French history, I can recommend this book. It is a relaxing, mostly funny, read through a good deal of French history. A great deal of information.

At first I couldn't quite figure out how we (I'm American) had managed to annoy the french for so long. But then I figured out this was written by a Brit and the whole thing got so funny, tongue in cheek, educational, and so worthy of a good read. He places most of the "blame" for various historical " annoyances " on the shoulders of the French and in some more recent history I think he "doth protest too much". However, overall that does not detract from this delightful read. I learned a lot about early European cultures, interactions between countries, the interminable intermarriages of British and French royalty and while doing so, I enjoyed the whole ride. Highly recommend it. I found this book MUCH better than another of his, "A Year in the Merde". That one didn't give me the cultural nuances. It was just a horny guy wanting to find a similarly horny girl. Nothing French about that ! I think all young men , regardless of nationality , want that !

This was my first Stephen Clarke's book and it is absolute fun. He writes with a nice and elegant style, never being rude but also striking some well-deserved blows to France, the French and their intolerable self-rightousness. I live in Italy, close to the French border, so I found this book refreshing - and ultimately true! It is a nice review of a thousand years of history, re-setting a lot of things straight and quietly demolishing everything that constitutes that annoying French myth that has been mostly invented by the French themselves. I read it and then bought another copy as a gift to a friend. If you think that all things French are nice, from champagne to croissants, or if they taught you in school that France won WWII (or any other War before that), buy this one and have a laugh. Sadly this one has not been translated in Italian, so I cannot use it for a bunch of nice gifts for next Xmas, since not all my friends can read a book in English, and that is a shame: everybody should read this one!

I read a chapter every now and again Really interesting, the section on Charles de Gaulle is so informative

Excellent book full of fun facts and extremely funny

Book in great shape for a second hand book.

Ich bin jetzt zu zwei Dritteln durch und mache momentan eine literarische Pause. Es ist viel, was der Herr Clarke da zusammen getragen hat und trotzdem amüsant und spannend zu lesen. Als ich die ersten Seiten durch hatte, konnte ich mich gar nicht mehr bremsen. Doch, wie oben geschrieben, nun ist erst einmal Pause. Wenn das vom Autor so geplant war, meine höchste Anerkennung. Wenn nicht, kann ich ihm nur raten, seinen Verleger zu bitten, aus diesem einen, drei Bände zu machen. Das ermüdet dann auch beim Halten des Buches im Bett nicht so sehr. Ansonsten hatte ich viel Spaß beim Lesen und musste manchmal lauthals lachen, was beim Erarbeiten von Historie bei mir bisher fast nie der Fall war. So gebe ich wegen des Unterhatungs- und Informationswerts volle 5 Sterne.