In France profound The long history of a house, a mountain town, and a people

Review by Booklist Review

Having purchased a house in the hills of central France, the late investigative journalist T. D. Allman (Finding Florida, 2013) employs his spirit of inquiry in laying out life in the hilltop town of Lauzerte. Thanks to its royal daughter, Eleanor of Aquitaine, crucial events in medieval history took place in the region and Allman relates stories of crusading kings and knights, of the hapless Richard the Lionheart, and of Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse, who used every subterfuge to keep his realm out of the Pope's control. The most fascinating part of this history of his adopted town is on the Lauzerte Charter of 1241. Its enumeration of the rights of men and women foreshadows much later historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence. It curbed the powers of aggressive neighborhood warlords and brought an unusual sense of security to otherwise powerless citizens. Allman brings history up to the present in this posthumous publication, discussing contemporary England's spurning of continental Europe. Allman's history is intriguing, compelling, and full of novel insights.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In this sumptuous account, the late journalist Allman (Finding Florida) celebrates Lauzerte, a remote mountain village in southwestern France where he lived in an 800-year-old house for more than three decades until his death in May of this year. Delving into local history, Allman suggests that, by pushing back since the Middle Ages against incursions and overweening dictates from northern France, England, the Catholic Church, and Nazi Germany, the region has subtly shaped the modern era--not so much as a maker of history but as a resister of it. Among the examples he highlights are the sweeping legacy of Eleanor of Aquitaine, a 12th-century native of the region, whose dynastic meddling as queen of England, much of it made in an attempt to preserve the independence of her homeland, defined many of Europe's modern borders; and the region's resistance to Pope Innocent III's 13th-century persecution of Cathar heretics--a bloody campaign, which Allman argues established a genocidal ethos in European culture that led to the Holocaust. The most penetrating aspect of Allman's narrative is his exploration of how his relationship with the town has altered his perception of what history is and how it moves ("Everything, sooner or later, converges on Lauzerte"), which often takes a wry turn, as when he explains that his "paella man" exemplifies an ancient "noblesse oblige." This enthralls. (Aug.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

In 1990, American journalist Allman (Finding Florida), purchased an 800-year-old home in the southern French town of Lauzerte. In his latest book, he captures what his life is like in his adopted community, and he examines the history of the region as well. His writing is often brilliant, warm, and clever. The stories of present-day Lauzerte are, by turns, gripping and amusing; the details of Allman's routines and the people of the village are touching and edifying. The historical portions emphasize brutal incidents and people. For example, the book mentions Pope Innocent III, who was viewed as one of the biggest and most ruthless and cruel rivals of Philip II, king of France. This is the same pope who initiated the most well-known of the Crusades, the violent religious wars between Christians and Muslims to secure land deemed sacred. Allman also discusses the cruel colonial empires of France and Britain. VERDICT Best suited for fans of Allman's work, along with readers intrigued by a little-known French town, the author's 800-year-old house, and the book's contemporary elements. This will appeal to readers who enjoy Martin Walker's "Bruno, Chief of Police" mystery series as well. --Evan M. Anderson

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A mountain view of history in France. When journalist Allman, author of Finding Florida and Rogue State, bought an 800-year-old house in Lauzerte, a mountain village in southwestern France, he found himself steeped in the tumultuous history of the region, which he recounts with zesty enthusiasm in a combination of memoir, historical narrative, and travelogue. "Look out the windows of my House long enough," writes the author, "and you will witness the rise and decay of cultures, the formation and disintegration of economic systems." Now officially designated as "One of the Most Beautiful Villages" in the country, Lauzerte did not even exist during its "vicious and colorful" medieval times, dominated by the wily, rapacious Eleanor of Aquitaine and her numerous descendants. While murder and mayhem swirled dramatically, incited by kings of France and England and avaricious popes, Lauzerte was "a little place without importance." Then, in 1241, under French rule, it became a bastide, "a planned, chartered polity inhabited by free citizens." By 1300, it had grown into "a place of consequence." The Hundred Years' War--fought to rid France of the English--and the Wars of Religion that followed, brought bloodshed to the squares of Lauzerte. Allman detours in time to prehistory, when inhabitants recorded images in Pech Merle, a nearby cave, one of Allman's secret destinations. Because of its mountaintop location, lack of railroads, and distance from Paris, Lauzerte was slow to modernize. Only after World War II, Allman notes, did most people get indoor toilets. But change has come, especially because of cars, which forced businesses to relocate to flatter terrain around the village. Americanization, globalization, and recolonialization have affected the area but not the author's beloved house, which still bestows gifts of "magic and madness, joy, folly, good food and good wine." An engaging, richly detailed tale. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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