When we think of France, we tend to conjure images of fine food and wine, the elegant boulevards of Paris, or the rustic glory of Provence, and yet this largest country in Europe is a place of tremendous diversity. The idea of "Frenchness" has emerged over two millennia, and here Cecil Jenkins chronicles the forming of this nation through its people, events, and culture. He considers why the French came to see themselves as being different from the rest of Europe, and why today they face many of the same problems defining their identity as other nations do. Here too are explanations of how the Eiffel Tower was built, what caused the French Revolution, and how the Mona Lisawound up in the Louvre.