This is a good time to both give gifts and immerse yourself in exciting reading. Especially since the range of personalities and periods shines with its diversity: the war of 39-45, the Napoleonic empire, the Ancien Régime…
Giving a book for the holidays is often a good idea. But not just any book: this is good, the year which is ending was distinguished by several invigorating publications in History. Here is the sample we have selected, which gives pride of place to several major periods supported by significant figures and events.
Among these works, we are sure that at least one will hold your attention, and no doubt several. Because these works are anything but dated: they integrate the latest research, use computer graphics, demonstrate pedagogy… Proof that historians are investigators, whether it is a question of following in the footsteps of the Emperor, of Madame de Sévigné, the great explorers or General de Gaulle.
Read the fileChristmas 2023: gift ideas from Le Figaro for the whole family
The Second World War from A to Z
In 2024, with the prospect of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, there should be a lot of talk about the Second World War. An additional reason to delve into the masterful synthesis proposed by Olivier Wieviorka, professor at the École Normale Supérieure of Paris-Saclay. Where most works focus on one or two aspects of the conflict (starting with the military theaters), the author embraces all aspects, including the economy and logistics, often relegated to the background.
The preference given to a chronological account, from the causes of the war to the examination of “new data”, is a source of great pedagogy: it facilitates perspective, while in recent years, new insights have been shed on the period, duly considered here. This Total History of World War II is undoubtedly more than 1,000 pages long but its content is sufficiently fascinating to banish any idea of summarization, which is often dry.
Total history of the Second World War, Olivier Wieviorka Perrin 1070 pages, 29 euros
Madame de Sévigné, view of the Grand Siècle
A page of literary history? Nay, this biography of Madame de Sévigné (born in 1626) is first and foremost a history book, a formidable photograph of the Grand Siècle of which the heroine is a privileged witness. To those who still believe that the Marquise’s correspondence is above all a joke, Geneviève Haroche-Bouzinac, professor emeritus at the University of Orléans, provides a formidable refutation. In the 17th century, female identity began to take root and the writing of Madame de Sévigné was one of the instruments for better understanding the history of private life. “in a France whose economic orientations are changing”.
Obviously, the greatest personalities emerge in this story because the one who was also a chronicler of the Court has an unrivaled art for depicting their actions, small or large. Geneviève Haroche-Bouzinac captures this figure of Madame de Sévigné well, through numerous and subtle back and forths between the companionship of the powerful and the worries of domestic life.
Madame de Sévigné, Geneviève Haroche-Bouzinac, Flammarion, 600 pages, 26 euros
The “Du Barry” in majesty
Can we talk about a rehabilitation company? In any case, it is a duty of truth. The Countess du Barry narrated by Emmanuel de Waresquiel is the antithesis of the portrait traditionally conveyed in books. For example, she is denied the slightest political skill, reducing her to a girl of little value who would have used her charms to impose herself at Court. False, protests Waresquiel, who emphasizes that“she was with Louis XV, even better than a great collector, a sort of occult minister of letters and the arts at the heart of the aesthetic mutations of her time”.
As for his personality which plays on mystery, the memoirist notes that“one does not become the titular mistress of a king with impunity without feeling the need for masks”. In short, this work is an investigation which shows that the life of Du Barry is not only a novel but also a testimony to a society in decomposition in certain aspects and in full recomposition in others.
Jeanne du Barry, Emmanuel de Waresquiel, Tallandier, 582 pages, 27.90 euros
The Napoleonic Empire, facts and figures
If opinions are mixed on Ridley Scott’s film, this Napoleonic Empire Infographic should make everyone agree. She succeeds in deciphering the workings of the First Empire, following in the footsteps of Napoleon and by extension unfolding the phases of a changing world. Four large chapters, structured respectively around power, the Great Army, war and the fall, contain a wealth of data, brilliantly presented.
The reader will discover a typical day of the Emperor as well as the tactical maneuvers of the infantry, including the list of plots, the galaxy of marshals and even the arrangement of institutions. A reference work where the addition of numbers, names and dates does not overwhelm the reader, thanks to the play of colors, pictograms and infographic finds. As for the overall analysis, it is balanced, pointing out greatness, the prestige of a man, his vision and his army, but not obscuring the terrible consequences of certain initiatives.
Infographics of the Napoleonic Empire, Vincent Haegele, Frédéric Bey and Nicolas Guillerat, Passés Composés, 156 pages, 29 euros
Dive with the whale
Known for his work on colors, the historian Michel Pastoureau is also interested in animals. After working on the wolf, the bull and the raven (in the collection A cultural history), this time he signed a work on the whale, “the largest, fattest and heaviest animal in Creation”. A species victim of the worst atrocities by humans – the whaling industry established itself as an economy in its own right – before a protection system could finally see the light of day. The only intangible fact, a part of myth which places the whale at the heart of legends “born around the colossal, the supernatural or mysterious”.
Of course, Pastoureau also deals with science, history, oceans, mysterious lands, zoology and even religion because in the Middle Ages, “the sea often appears as a living and formidable being, which seems to be in league with the Devil.” Throughout the richly illustrated pages, we let ourselves be carried away by a story that spans the ages, impressed by the dimension that the whale has taken on in the trajectory of humanity.
The whale, A cultural history, Michel Pastoureau, Seuil, 156 pages, 19.90 euros
2023-12-21 13:04:56
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