1000 Years of Annoying the French

Product Information

Stephen Clarke takes a penetrating look into those murky depths, guiding us through all the times when Britain and France have been at war - or at least glowering at each other across the English Channel. As well as plenty of passage highlighting reasons to love the French, it reminds us of the many things the world has to thank France for. Though maybe this book would be even better served with a companion novel, depicting the same events but from a French point of view, while poking fun at the British. A 'deliciously' entertaining read from start to finish - probably the most entertaining history book I've ever read (and I do enjoy a bit of history). I enjoyed it and laughed out loud fairly frequently, but it's definitely more of a comedy routine than a true historical resource.

W zasadzie autor bierze "pod pióro" każdą niemal francuską świętość i wykazuje, że zawdzięczają ją Brytyjczykom lub że nie mają racji chełpiąc się swoją przewagą.With A Year in the Merde, Clarke is arguably one of the earliest self-publishing success stories--it was discovered by French newspapers and garnered enough interest that he could sell the novel to international publishers. My friend's French tutor was convinced world war 1 and 2 was strictly France vs Germany and France won, for example. During World War II, the British hated their French allies almost as much as they hated their Soviet allies. On the other hand, I am French, and I have discovered at my expense that this book does exactly what it says on the cover: it annoyed me.

And that our past is studded with wonderful stories of betrayal, distrust, violence and all-too-rare attempts to be nice to each other.What a wonderful way to understand the historical significance of the events that have shaped Anglo-French relations for the past 1,000 years. This is done on purpose, the humoristic tone is added to make the story a bit less dry and more entertaining. But exactly the same thing can be said about the French and the all English-speakers – no matter what we try to do in the present, the past will always march up and slap us in the face.

This is a great introduction to anybody wanting to understand the peculiar relationship between two countries separated by a 30 mile stretch of water and 1000 years of colourful history. O, delikatnie rzecz ujmując, skomplikowanych stosunkach pomiędzy dwoma wielkimi narodami, z humorem (często wyjątkowo czarnym!This was a humorous and yet seriously edifying romp through Anglo-Gallic relations from the time of the conquest until a few years ago.