A Literary Tour de France

A Literary Tour de France

Author: Robert Darnton

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-01-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0190678003

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The publishing industry in France in the years before the Revolution was a lively and sometimes rough-and-tumble affair, as publishers and printers scrambled to deal with (and if possible evade) shifting censorship laws and tax regulations, in order to cater to a reading public's appetite for books of all kinds, from the famous Encyclopédie, repository of reason and knowledge, to scandal-mongering libel and pornography. Historian and librarian Robert Darnton uses his exclusive access to a trove of documents-letters and documents from authors, publishers, printers, paper millers, type founders, ink manufacturers, smugglers, wagon drivers, warehousemen, and accountants-involving a publishing house in the Swiss town of Neuchatel to bring this world to life. Like other places on the periphery of France, Switzerland was a hotbed of piracy, carefully monitoring the demand for certain kinds of books and finding ways of fulfilling it. Focusing in particular on the diary of Jean-François Favarger, a traveling sales rep for a Swiss firm whose 1778 voyage, on horseback and on foot, around France to visit bookstores and renew accounts forms the spine of this story, Darnton reveals not only how the industry worked and which titles were in greatest demand, but the human scale of its operations. A Literary Tour de France is literally that. Darnton captures the hustle, picaresque comedy, and occasional risk of Favarger's travels in the service of books, and in the process offers an engaging, immersive, and unforgettable narrative of book culture at a critical moment in France's history.


Book Synopsis A Literary Tour de France by : Robert Darnton

Download or read book A Literary Tour de France written by Robert Darnton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The publishing industry in France in the years before the Revolution was a lively and sometimes rough-and-tumble affair, as publishers and printers scrambled to deal with (and if possible evade) shifting censorship laws and tax regulations, in order to cater to a reading public's appetite for books of all kinds, from the famous Encyclopédie, repository of reason and knowledge, to scandal-mongering libel and pornography. Historian and librarian Robert Darnton uses his exclusive access to a trove of documents-letters and documents from authors, publishers, printers, paper millers, type founders, ink manufacturers, smugglers, wagon drivers, warehousemen, and accountants-involving a publishing house in the Swiss town of Neuchatel to bring this world to life. Like other places on the periphery of France, Switzerland was a hotbed of piracy, carefully monitoring the demand for certain kinds of books and finding ways of fulfilling it. Focusing in particular on the diary of Jean-François Favarger, a traveling sales rep for a Swiss firm whose 1778 voyage, on horseback and on foot, around France to visit bookstores and renew accounts forms the spine of this story, Darnton reveals not only how the industry worked and which titles were in greatest demand, but the human scale of its operations. A Literary Tour de France is literally that. Darnton captures the hustle, picaresque comedy, and occasional risk of Favarger's travels in the service of books, and in the process offers an engaging, immersive, and unforgettable narrative of book culture at a critical moment in France's history.

Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France

Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France

Author: Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-06-20

Total Pages: 556

ISBN-13: 1471128954

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Geoffrey Wheatcroft's hugely entertaining and well researched history of the Tour de France is already established as the definitive account of cycling's greatest event. Since the book was last published in 2007, much has changed. Bradley Wiggins' historic victory in 2012 - the first Briton ever to secure the yellow jersey - brought him a knighthood and garnered more interest in the race than ever before. Yet the months after were dominated by an even bigger story, as Tour legend and seven-time winner Lance Armstrong was stripped of his titles and confessed on Oprah to doping in each of his victories. Suddenly, everything that we thought we knew had happened was no longer true. In this new and comprehensively revised edition of the book, Wheatcroft not only brings his story of the Tour fully up to date to mark the race's 100th running in 2013, he also reflects on the changes brought about by the scandals that have rocked the sport to its core. Yet for all the controversies of modern times, he vividly captures the essential glory and romance of the heroes who battle to conquer one of sport's greatest challenges.


Book Synopsis Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France by : Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Download or read book Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France written by Geoffrey Wheatcroft and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-06-20 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Geoffrey Wheatcroft's hugely entertaining and well researched history of the Tour de France is already established as the definitive account of cycling's greatest event. Since the book was last published in 2007, much has changed. Bradley Wiggins' historic victory in 2012 - the first Briton ever to secure the yellow jersey - brought him a knighthood and garnered more interest in the race than ever before. Yet the months after were dominated by an even bigger story, as Tour legend and seven-time winner Lance Armstrong was stripped of his titles and confessed on Oprah to doping in each of his victories. Suddenly, everything that we thought we knew had happened was no longer true. In this new and comprehensively revised edition of the book, Wheatcroft not only brings his story of the Tour fully up to date to mark the race's 100th running in 2013, he also reflects on the changes brought about by the scandals that have rocked the sport to its core. Yet for all the controversies of modern times, he vividly captures the essential glory and romance of the heroes who battle to conquer one of sport's greatest challenges.

Tour de France

Tour de France

Author: Christopher S. Thompson

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2008-03-08

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 9780520934863

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this highly original history of the world's most famous bicycle race, Christopher S. Thompson, mining previously neglected sources and writing with infectious enthusiasm for his subject, tells the compelling story of the Tour de France from its creation in 1903 to the present. Weaving the words of racers, politicians, Tour organizers, and a host of other commentators together with a wide-ranging analysis of the culture surrounding the event including posters, songs, novels, films, and media coverage Thompson links the history of the Tour to key moments and themes in French history. Examining the enduring popularity of Tour racers, Thompson explores how their public images have changed over the past century. A new preface explores the long-standing problem of doping in light of recent scandals.


Book Synopsis Tour de France by : Christopher S. Thompson

Download or read book Tour de France written by Christopher S. Thompson and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-03-08 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this highly original history of the world's most famous bicycle race, Christopher S. Thompson, mining previously neglected sources and writing with infectious enthusiasm for his subject, tells the compelling story of the Tour de France from its creation in 1903 to the present. Weaving the words of racers, politicians, Tour organizers, and a host of other commentators together with a wide-ranging analysis of the culture surrounding the event including posters, songs, novels, films, and media coverage Thompson links the history of the Tour to key moments and themes in French history. Examining the enduring popularity of Tour racers, Thompson explores how their public images have changed over the past century. A new preface explores the long-standing problem of doping in light of recent scandals.

Pirating and Publishing

Pirating and Publishing

Author: Robert Darnton

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2021-01-14

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 019514452X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The story of how book piracy in pre-Revolutionary France expanded the reach of the works that would inspire momentous change.


Book Synopsis Pirating and Publishing by : Robert Darnton

Download or read book Pirating and Publishing written by Robert Darnton and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2021-01-14 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of how book piracy in pre-Revolutionary France expanded the reach of the works that would inspire momentous change.

Lanterne Rouge

Lanterne Rouge

Author: Max Leonard

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2015-06-15

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1605987875

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Froome, Wiggins, Mercks—we know the winners of the Tour de France, but Lanterne Rouge tells the forgotten, often inspirational and occasionally absurd stories of the last-placed rider. We learn of stage winners and former yellow jerseys who tasted life at the other end of the bunch; the breakaway leader who stopped for a bottle of wine and then took a wrong turn; the doper whose drug cocktail accidentally slowed him down and the rider who was recognized as the most combative despite finishing at the back. Max Leonard flips the Tour de France on its head and examines what these stories tell us about ourselves, the 99% who don't win the trophy, and forces us to re-examine the meaning of success, failure and the very nature of sport.


Book Synopsis Lanterne Rouge by : Max Leonard

Download or read book Lanterne Rouge written by Max Leonard and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-06-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Froome, Wiggins, Mercks—we know the winners of the Tour de France, but Lanterne Rouge tells the forgotten, often inspirational and occasionally absurd stories of the last-placed rider. We learn of stage winners and former yellow jerseys who tasted life at the other end of the bunch; the breakaway leader who stopped for a bottle of wine and then took a wrong turn; the doper whose drug cocktail accidentally slowed him down and the rider who was recognized as the most combative despite finishing at the back. Max Leonard flips the Tour de France on its head and examines what these stories tell us about ourselves, the 99% who don't win the trophy, and forces us to re-examine the meaning of success, failure and the very nature of sport.

A Walking Tour in Southern France

A Walking Tour in Southern France

Author: Ezra Pound

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 9780811212236

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Rummaging through his papers in 1958, Ezra Pound came across a cache of notebooks dating back to the summer of 1912, when as a young man he had walked the troubadour landscape of southern France. Pound had been fascinated with the poetry of medieval Provence since his college days. His experiments with the complex lyric forms of Arnaut Daniel, Bertran de Born, and others were included in his earliest books of poems; his scholarly pursuits in the field found their way into The Spirit of Romance (1910); and the troubadour mystique was to become a resonant motif of the Cantos. In the course of transcribing and emending the text of "Walking Tour 1912", editor Richard Sieburth retraced Pound's footsteps along the roads to the troubadour castles. "What this peripatetic editing process...revealed", he writes, "was a remarkably readable account of a journey in search of the vanished voices of Provence that at the same time chronicled Pound's gradual discovery of himself as a modernist poet...".


Book Synopsis A Walking Tour in Southern France by : Ezra Pound

Download or read book A Walking Tour in Southern France written by Ezra Pound and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 1992 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rummaging through his papers in 1958, Ezra Pound came across a cache of notebooks dating back to the summer of 1912, when as a young man he had walked the troubadour landscape of southern France. Pound had been fascinated with the poetry of medieval Provence since his college days. His experiments with the complex lyric forms of Arnaut Daniel, Bertran de Born, and others were included in his earliest books of poems; his scholarly pursuits in the field found their way into The Spirit of Romance (1910); and the troubadour mystique was to become a resonant motif of the Cantos. In the course of transcribing and emending the text of "Walking Tour 1912", editor Richard Sieburth retraced Pound's footsteps along the roads to the troubadour castles. "What this peripatetic editing process...revealed", he writes, "was a remarkably readable account of a journey in search of the vanished voices of Provence that at the same time chronicled Pound's gradual discovery of himself as a modernist poet...".

Sprinting Through No Man's Land

Sprinting Through No Man's Land

Author: Adin Dobkin

Publisher: Little A

Published: 2021-07

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9781542018821

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The inspiring, heart-pumping true story of soldiers turned cyclists and the historic 1919 Tour de France that helped to restore a war-torn country and its people. On June 29, 1919, one day after the Treaty of Versailles brought about the end of World War I, nearly seventy cyclists embarked on the thirteenth Tour de France. From Paris, the war-weary men rode down the western coast on a race that would trace the country's border, through seaside towns and mountains to the ghostly western front. Traversing a cratered postwar landscape, the cyclists faced near-impossible odds and the psychological scars of war. Most of the athletes had arrived straight from the front, where so many fellow countrymen had suffered or died. The cyclists' perseverance and tolerance for pain would be tested in a grueling, monthlong competition. An inspiring true story of human endurance, Sprinting Through No Man's Land explores how the cyclists united a country that had been torn apart by unprecedented desolation and tragedy. It shows how devastated countrymen and women can come together to celebrate the adventure of a lifetime and discover renewed fortitude, purpose, and national identity in the streets of their towns.


Book Synopsis Sprinting Through No Man's Land by : Adin Dobkin

Download or read book Sprinting Through No Man's Land written by Adin Dobkin and published by Little A. This book was released on 2021-07 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inspiring, heart-pumping true story of soldiers turned cyclists and the historic 1919 Tour de France that helped to restore a war-torn country and its people. On June 29, 1919, one day after the Treaty of Versailles brought about the end of World War I, nearly seventy cyclists embarked on the thirteenth Tour de France. From Paris, the war-weary men rode down the western coast on a race that would trace the country's border, through seaside towns and mountains to the ghostly western front. Traversing a cratered postwar landscape, the cyclists faced near-impossible odds and the psychological scars of war. Most of the athletes had arrived straight from the front, where so many fellow countrymen had suffered or died. The cyclists' perseverance and tolerance for pain would be tested in a grueling, monthlong competition. An inspiring true story of human endurance, Sprinting Through No Man's Land explores how the cyclists united a country that had been torn apart by unprecedented desolation and tragedy. It shows how devastated countrymen and women can come together to celebrate the adventure of a lifetime and discover renewed fortitude, purpose, and national identity in the streets of their towns.

The Comeback

The Comeback

Author: Daniel de Visé

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press

Published: 2018-06-05

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 0802165796

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“Greg LeMond was Lance Armstrong before Lance Armstrong . . . the story of a true hero . . . This is a must read if you believe in miracles.”―John Feinstein, New York Times–bestselling author In July 1986, Greg LeMond stunned the sporting world by becoming the first American to win the Tour de France, the world’s pre-eminent bicycle race, defeating French cycling legend Bernard Hinault. Nine months later, LeMond lay in a hospital bed, his life in peril after a hunting accident, his career as a bicycle racer seemingly over. And yet, barely two years after this crisis, LeMond mounted a comeback almost without parallel in professional sports. In summer 1989, he again won the Tour—arguably the world’s most grueling athletic contest—by the almost impossibly narrow margin of 8 seconds over another French legend, Laurent Fignon. It remains the closest Tour de France in history. “[A] blend of chaos, kindness and cruelty typifies the scenes that journalist de Visé brings to life in this sympathetic-verging-on-reverential retelling of LeMond’s trailblazing career (first American to enter the tour, first to win it) . . . As an author in quest of his protagonist’s motivation, [de Visé] subjects it to extreme torque.”—The Washington Post “A great book . . . Well written and thoroughly researched . . . Engrossing and hard to put down. If you’re a Greg LeMond fan, The Comeback is a must read because it’s a detailed accounting of his career and―more importantly―his life and person off the bike. It’s also an important reminder that American cycling did not begin and end with Lance Armstrong.”—PEZ


Book Synopsis The Comeback by : Daniel de Visé

Download or read book The Comeback written by Daniel de Visé and published by Atlantic Monthly Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Greg LeMond was Lance Armstrong before Lance Armstrong . . . the story of a true hero . . . This is a must read if you believe in miracles.”―John Feinstein, New York Times–bestselling author In July 1986, Greg LeMond stunned the sporting world by becoming the first American to win the Tour de France, the world’s pre-eminent bicycle race, defeating French cycling legend Bernard Hinault. Nine months later, LeMond lay in a hospital bed, his life in peril after a hunting accident, his career as a bicycle racer seemingly over. And yet, barely two years after this crisis, LeMond mounted a comeback almost without parallel in professional sports. In summer 1989, he again won the Tour—arguably the world’s most grueling athletic contest—by the almost impossibly narrow margin of 8 seconds over another French legend, Laurent Fignon. It remains the closest Tour de France in history. “[A] blend of chaos, kindness and cruelty typifies the scenes that journalist de Visé brings to life in this sympathetic-verging-on-reverential retelling of LeMond’s trailblazing career (first American to enter the tour, first to win it) . . . As an author in quest of his protagonist’s motivation, [de Visé] subjects it to extreme torque.”—The Washington Post “A great book . . . Well written and thoroughly researched . . . Engrossing and hard to put down. If you’re a Greg LeMond fan, The Comeback is a must read because it’s a detailed accounting of his career and―more importantly―his life and person off the bike. It’s also an important reminder that American cycling did not begin and end with Lance Armstrong.”—PEZ

The Book Tour

The Book Tour

Author: Andi Watson

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Published: 2020-11-18

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 1684069289

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A page-turning, Kafkaesque dark comedy in brilliant retro style, this graphic novel watches one man try to keep it together while everything falls apart. Upon the publication of his latest novel, G. H. Fretwell, a minor English writer, embarks on a book tour to promote it. Nothing is going according to plan, and his trip gradually turns into a nightmare. But now the police want to ask him some questions about a mysterious disappearance, and it seems that Fretwell's troubles are only just beginning… In his first book for adults in many years, acclaimed cartoonist Andi Watson evokes all the anxieties felt by every writer and compresses them into a comedic gem of a book. Witty, surreal, and sharply observant, The Book Tour offers a captivating lesson in letting go.


Book Synopsis The Book Tour by : Andi Watson

Download or read book The Book Tour written by Andi Watson and published by IDW Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-18 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A page-turning, Kafkaesque dark comedy in brilliant retro style, this graphic novel watches one man try to keep it together while everything falls apart. Upon the publication of his latest novel, G. H. Fretwell, a minor English writer, embarks on a book tour to promote it. Nothing is going according to plan, and his trip gradually turns into a nightmare. But now the police want to ask him some questions about a mysterious disappearance, and it seems that Fretwell's troubles are only just beginning… In his first book for adults in many years, acclaimed cartoonist Andi Watson evokes all the anxieties felt by every writer and compresses them into a comedic gem of a book. Witty, surreal, and sharply observant, The Book Tour offers a captivating lesson in letting go.

The Tour de France

The Tour de France

Author: Christopher S. Thompson

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2006-07-17

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 0520247604

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Shows that sport has been for us moderns the ultimate tabula rasa into which we pour our hopes, fears, prejudices and self-interest."—Robert A. Nye, author of Crime, Madness, & Politics in Modern France and Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France "A true gem of a book. A terrific scholar and an engaging writer."—Dean MacCannell, author of The Tourist and Empty Meeting Grounds "A major new interpretation of France's most famous sporting event. For the first time the Tour de France has been fully and carefully placed within the wider context of French history."—Richard Holt, author of Sport and Society in Modern France and Sport and the British "Chris Thompson has written an engaging, nicely-paced account of France's world-famous cycle race: his writing is lively and full of detail and excitement. But he has done much more than simply narrate the story of the Tour. His book sets the race—its history, its participants and its meaning—firmly in its shifting national and cultural contexts. The sections dealing with professional cycling as a form of labor and with the Tour's place in France's troubled twentieth century are absolutely first-rate: insightful and original. This is the best history of the Tour that we have and are likely to have for many years, a work of scholarship that deserves to find a broad general readership."—Tony Judt, author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945


Book Synopsis The Tour de France by : Christopher S. Thompson

Download or read book The Tour de France written by Christopher S. Thompson and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2006-07-17 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Shows that sport has been for us moderns the ultimate tabula rasa into which we pour our hopes, fears, prejudices and self-interest."—Robert A. Nye, author of Crime, Madness, & Politics in Modern France and Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France "A true gem of a book. A terrific scholar and an engaging writer."—Dean MacCannell, author of The Tourist and Empty Meeting Grounds "A major new interpretation of France's most famous sporting event. For the first time the Tour de France has been fully and carefully placed within the wider context of French history."—Richard Holt, author of Sport and Society in Modern France and Sport and the British "Chris Thompson has written an engaging, nicely-paced account of France's world-famous cycle race: his writing is lively and full of detail and excitement. But he has done much more than simply narrate the story of the Tour. His book sets the race—its history, its participants and its meaning—firmly in its shifting national and cultural contexts. The sections dealing with professional cycling as a form of labor and with the Tour's place in France's troubled twentieth century are absolutely first-rate: insightful and original. This is the best history of the Tour that we have and are likely to have for many years, a work of scholarship that deserves to find a broad general readership."—Tony Judt, author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945