AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: The Road from the Past: Traveling through History in France by Ina Caro ISBN: 0-15-600363-5 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: May, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (12 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: A Must-Read for Travellers Who Love History
Comment: If you plan any kind of extensive visit of France to see its many historical treasures, you must read this book before setting off. Caro recommends a tour that is chronological, thus allowing you to appreciate how this marvellous country really developed. From the Roman ruins through the Medieval period to the chateaux of the Loire, Versailles and finally into Paris, this will give you spectacular, thoughtful background to help you organize a truly meaningful tour. Unfortunately Caro does not cover the country's pre-historic sites of interest, such as the alignments of Carnac in Brittany (which predate Stonehenge), so you'll have to content yourself with just the 2000 years she does discuss. Simply put: An outstanding contribution to travel literature, one that I wish I could find for other destinations!

Rating: 5
Summary: For everyone who loves history and travel!
Comment: This book was a pleasure to read - insightful, interesting and well written. If you enjoy understanding the history of what you are visiting, this book is definitely worth your time. Read it in advance AND take it with you to France to re-read as you visit these wonderful places. My only regret is that her journey (and the history lesson) ends too early. Perhaps Ms Caro's next journey will take us from the French Revolution through World War II.

Rating: 2
Summary: Ina's summer vacation
Comment: Preciously and annoyingly written ("[t]hat first visit to the Dordogne region was permeated with a magic I still remember as though it were yesterday"; "I can't explain what happens to the quality of light in the Loire Valley between Amboise and Blois"), Caro goes on for pages at a time reciting her trite reactions to French buildings and locales. Using Amazon's "search" function, you will see dozens of references to "Bob," "restaurant," "car," and "waiter," for example. There are more references to French waiters (stereotypically negative) than there are to bastides, for example.

Life is too short to read about someone else's mundane driving errors, or poorly described meals in order to make it to what is a quick and eclectic discussion of French history, seemingly ordered by a pre-set tourist itinerary. There's no real need to read about Bob and Ina's rushed meal at a fancy restaurant in Carcassonne in order to make the two o'clock castle tour. Once you get through that, however, you get to read about the tour guide, "dressed like a reject from the hippie movement of the sixties" in "a rumpled T-shirt and dungarees, [whose] blond hair was coiffured in oily shoulder-length curls--a style [Ina] is not particularly fond of in men."

This seems to be a "how-I-spent-my-summer-and-deducted-it-all" travelogue more than a serious effort at providing a travelers' history. We get someone else's tour reviews, bad lunches, good lunches, missed exits, oversleeping. If you are looking for Ina's history, with some observations about France tucked in, this may be for you.