France Nonfiction

John Julius Norwich - called a "true master of narrative history" by Simon Sebag Montefiore - returns with the book he has spent his distinguished career wanting to write, A History of France, a portrait of the past two centuries of the country he loves best. Beginning with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the first century BC, this study of French history comprises a cast of legendary characters - Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Marie Antionette, to name a few - as Norwich chronicles France's often violent, always fascinating history.

After decades of silence, the last surviving World War II spy operating in the deadly world of Nazi France, reveals the real, untold story of her time as a secret agent. From a unique and singular voice comes the incredible true story of the last surviving undercover British female operative in...

A century of sweat, courage, and obsession — the story of how the Tour de France became the world’s greatest test of endurance. From the dusty roads of 1903 to the high-tech duels of today, The Road to Glory takes readers inside the soul of the Tour de France — where triumph and tragedy ride side by side. Blending cinematic storytelling with documentary realism, this sweeping narrative follows the race’s evolution through war, scandal, and rebirth. You’ll meet the riders who became legends — Garin, Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Armstrong, Pogačar, and Vingegaard — each ...

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE Written with the style of a great novelist and the intrigue of a Cold War thriller, Embers of War is a landmark work that will forever change your understanding of how and why America went to war in Vietnam. Tapping newly accessible diplomatic archives in several...

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review The Economist The Christian Science Monitor Bloomberg Businessweek The Globe and Mail From the bestselling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, a fascinating...

France has influenced the course of history in Europe and the world for centuries. Considered one of the world’s most beautiful countries and home to some of the world’s most visited tourist locations, France has enthralled and fascinated the people who’ve discovered that, in many ways, the history of France encompasses both the good and bad in the human character.

From the New York Times bestselling author comes the definitive, illustrated history of one of the greatest battles ever fought—a riveting nonfiction chronicle published to commemorate the two-hundreth anniversary of Napoleon's last stand. On June 18, 1815, the armies of France, Britain, and...

A false conviction. A nation torn apart. A scandal that redefined democracy. In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason without proof, without justice, and without mercy. His crime was not betrayal—but belonging to the wrong minority at the wrong moment in history. What followed was not just a miscarriage of justice. It was a political earthquake. The Dreyfus Affair exposes how fear, nationalism, and institutional arrogance shattered France, unleashed antisemitic violence, and turned courts, newspapers, and the army into weapons of power. As the truth emerged, the state ...

A dazzling portrait of one town—and a nation—told through 150 years of light, luxury, and survival. On France’s northern coast lies Deauville, a place where history glimmers like sunlight on the sea. Born from the dream of Napoleon III’s half-brother, Charles de Morny, this once-sleepy fishing village became the playground of Europe’s elite, the muse of painters and poets, the refuge of soldiers and lovers, and the red-carpet stage where Hollywood met France. In The Beach That Time Built, historian and storyteller Julien Peltier takes readers on a sweeping, cinematic journey ...

In the wake of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, and Pope Pius VII shared a common goal: to reconcile the church with the state. But while they were able to work together initially, formalizing an agreement in 1801, relations between them rapidly deteriorated. In 1809, Napoleon ordered the Pope's arrest. Ambrogio Caiani provides a pioneering account of the tempestuous relationship between the emperor and his most unyielding opponent.

In the early days of aviation, a handful of fearless pilots defied deserts, mountains, and oceans to deliver letters across continents. This is their story. Wings Across the World takes readers on a breathtaking journey through the golden age of airmail, chronicling the daring exploits of France’s legendary Aéropostale pilots—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Jean Mermoz, Henri Guillaumet, and others—whose courage, skill, and ingenuity made history. From the scorching sands of the Sahara to the perilous heights of the Andes and the endless expanse of the South Atlantic, these men risked ...

The rivetingly strange story of the world's most expensive bottle of wine, and the even stranger characters whose lives have intersected with it. The New York Times bestseller, updated with a new epilogue, that tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas...

What happens when soldiers turn against their own nation? In the early 1960s, as Algeria fought for independence, a secret French organization waged a brutal campaign of bombings, assassinations, and sabotage. They called themselves the Organisation de l’Armée Secrète (OAS). To their followers, they were patriots. To the world, they were terrorists. The Secret Army: The Rise and Fall of the OAS in Algeria is a gripping, cinematic history of one of the most dangerous underground movements of the 20th century. From the chaos of colonial Algiers to the near-assassination of Charles de ...

How a Modern Democracy Slowly Turns Into a Narco-State A nation in denial. A system collapsing from within. The true story no one else dares to tell. Cocaine in the ports. Weapons in the suburbs. Money in the banks. Silence in the Republic. This is not fiction. This is the slow drift of a Western democracy toward the unthinkable: a narco-state in the heart of Europe. Investigative in tone but paced like a thriller, NarcoFrance exposes how organized crime has quietly embedded itself inside France’s institutions — from local municipalities to national politics, from housing estates to ...

A medieval citadel in the sea. A thousand years of war, faith, and survival. The unforgettable story of Mont Saint-Michel. Rising from the tides of Normandy like a vision, Mont Saint-Michel has captivated pilgrims, kings, conquerors, and travelers for more than thirteen centuries. It has been a sacred abbey, an impregnable fortress, a revolutionary prison, and a world treasure. In The Eternal Fortress, discover the breathtaking saga of this iconic mount: • War and Siege: How Mont Saint-Michel withstood English armies and became the “Bastion of France.” • Faith and Pilgrimage: From ...

On January 5, 1895, Captain Alfred Dreyfus's cries of innocence were drowned out by a mob shouting "Death to Judas!" In this book, Maurice Samuels gives listeners new insight into Dreyfus himself—the man at the center of the affair. He tells the story of Dreyfus's early life in Paris, his promising career as a French officer, the false accusation leading to his imprisonment on Devil's Island, the fight to prove his innocence that divided the French nation, and his life of quiet obscurity after World War I.

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019 National Book Award-winning biographer Deirdre Bair explores her fifteen remarkable years in Paris with Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir, painting intimate new portraits of two literary giants and revealing secrets of the...

Lisa Anselmo wrapped her entire life around her mother, a strong woman who was a defining force in Lisa’s life—maybe too defining. When her mother dies from breast cancer, Lisa realizes she hasn’t built a life of her own and struggles to find her purpose. Who is she without her...

“Highly detailed and fast-paced, Charles Glass’s They Fought Alone is a must-read for those whose passion is the Resistance literature of World War II.” —Alan Furst, author of A Hero of France From the bestselling author of Americans in Paris and The Deserters, the astounding story...

Based on Richard Rubin's wildly popular New York Times series, Back Over There is a timely journey, in turns reverent and iconoclastic but always fascinating, through a place where the past and present are never really separated. In The Last of the Doughboys, Richard Rubin introduced readers to...