I definitely will read his other book "The Discovery of France" which covers the French Revolution to World War I.

In France: An Adventure History, he selects France's key events from the Roman Empire to the current era, gives facts in storytelling style, and adds color commentary.

Along the way, readers will find the usual faces, events and themes of French history – Louis XIV, the French Revolution, the French Résistance, the Tour de France – but all presented in a shining new light. France, an Adventure History” is a disjointed series of chapters, covered bits and pieces of the author’s thirty years of bicycling and journeying throughout France.

Robb moves forward to a sheepherder prodigy from Aurillac named Gerbert, who later became Pope in 999 after spending many years in Reims. Bhí sé ina Cheann Feadhna ar an champa géibhinn a raibh sé féin ina phríosúnach ann i dtuaisceart na Seapáine. Other than Napoleon, the French Revolution, and Vichy France, I didn’t know much of anything about France’s history. There are published atlases and travelogues of old, from different eras: one from 1552 is still concerned with pilgrim pathways and brigands; another from the 18th-century — on the cusp of revolution — is a literate glazier’s itinerary as much concerned with amorous conquests as the repair of stained-glass windows. For that really is the lingering impression of this book: in whatever ephemeral, run-of-the-mill place you happen to be, it may have been at one point either the location of a momentous event buried by the sands of time, or it may have been visited by — or was maybe even the home of — someone who enjoyed a moment of celebrity in some past era.Graham Robb bicycles through France, stopping in places and diving into a historical event that happened here. She has been largely forgotten, but Robb’s description of her relationship with Louis Napoleon makes her come alive, and Robb contends that without her Napoleon would have become a complete unknown. Robb is not afraid to weigh in on contemporary issues such as climate change and rampant development, as well as politics.

I do not know if this is a "style" worth categorising separately from other styles of telling history under an objective point of view, but it certainly does on my shelf. He connects the land to its history in a way that made me want to fly to France and see if I could follow his trail. So, anyone looking for a survey of French history will be disappointed, but someone wishing to know how Caesar would approach the northern Gaul warriors or Michel Frédérick lost the Tour de France will find exquisite essays.

who, what, why, and how of religious wars, of the French Revolution, of the Tour de France and modern-day protests, of the French love of nature, to name a few topics covered by Robb. He talks about why the southeast is more violent than other parts of the country; how anti-clericalism existed long before, and after, the Revolution; and why the country’s obsession with Paris’s predominance from the 12th century to the present was in part the result of how much writing about France --- literary, historiographical, legal --- emanated from the City of Light. However I found the sections where Robb digressed into personal history a little twee and the endless decriptiosn of cycling and trains were too much. Ponies at the Edge of the World is a heartfelt love letter to the beauty and resilience of these magical ponies and their native land. We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed.