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Portraits of France

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Freely mixing travelogue, history and offhand cultural commentary, Daley's serendipitous journey appraises France's soul. Whether he is expressing consternation at Avignon's immense Palace of the Popes, monument to medieval extravagance, or tracking the legend of bike racer Jacques Anquetil, Daley has a knack for the telling detail, the unusual observation. A few of these 19 vignettes delve into little-known events, like the building of French concentration camps in the Pyrenees during WW II. Among the indelible portraits we find those of French soldier- politican-aristocrat Lafayette, Grace Kelly, Scottish novelist Tobias Smollett and De Gaulle, an obscure brigadier general in 1940 worried mainly about his wife and retarded daughter. Other pieces deal with Lourdes, Bordeaux, a perfume factory in Grasse, Jules Massenet writing operas in Paris and the Sansons family, which operated the guillotine through six generations.

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Back Bay Books

Release: February 08, 1995

ISBN: 0316171816

ISBN 13: 9780316171816

Portraits of France

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Freely mixing travelogue, history and offhand cultural commentary, Daley's serendipitous journey appraises France's soul. Whether he is expressing consternation at Avignon's immense Palace of the Popes, monument to medieval extravagance, or tracking the legend of bike racer Jacques Anquetil, Daley has a knack for the telling detail, the unusual observation. A few of these 19 vignettes delve into little-known events, like the building of French concentration camps in the Pyrenees during WW II. Among the indelible portraits we find those of French soldier- politican-aristocrat Lafayette, Grace Kelly, Scottish novelist Tobias Smollett and De Gaulle, an obscure brigadier general in 1940 worried mainly about his wife and retarded daughter. Other pieces deal with Lourdes, Bordeaux, a perfume factory in Grasse, Jules Massenet writing operas in Paris and the Sansons family, which operated the guillotine through six generations.

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Back Bay Books

Release: February 08, 1995

ISBN: 0316171816

ISBN 13: 9780316171816

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