I really wanted to like this book, but it was just so vague that I'm not sure what all I gained from it. Not that it is poorly written, it's actually well done, but there is just so much crammed in to it's moderate size that it either needed to be bigger with more specifics (the reign of Napoleon literally covered less than two pages of text) or the emphasis on discussing the political, social, and military history of such a vast timeframe needed to be modified a bit. It is especially vague on the Gaul of ancient times and the Franks, and Francois Mitterand is far more extensively detailed than Charlemagne. Still, there are plenty of lessons to be had here and it does serve as a starting point fairly well, and its treatment of the post WWII era was particularly well done. I just was interested in a more detailed history, that's all. ( )