Background
Victor Duruy was born on September 10, 1811, in Paris, France.
(From the preface: "The work which follows is an abridged ...)
From the preface: "The work which follows is an abridged translation of the seventeenth edition (1884) of the Histoire de France, in two volumes, by the distinguished French historian, M. Victor Duruy. A good, short history of France is, it is believed, a book widely desired; and perhaps this is especially true in the present year when that great country, it's past and it's present, is attracting an unusual degree of attention.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/150235019X/?tag=2022091-20
Victor Duruy was born on September 10, 1811, in Paris, France.
He studied history under Jules Michelet.
He served as professor of history at the universities of Reims and Paris, during which time he became noted for his historical works. One of these, Histoire des Romains ("History of the Romans"; 1844), came to the attention of Napoleon III, who expressed a desire to meet the author. Thus began an association which ripened into respect and affection on both sides. Duruy was a senator from 1869 to 1871, retiring from public life after the fall of the Empire in the latter year. In 1884 he was elected to the French Academy. In addition to his widely used textbooks, Duruy's published works include the greatly revised and expanded Histoire des Romains depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à mort de Théodose ("History of the Romans from the Earliest Times Until the Death of Theodosius"; 7 vol. , 1883-1886); Histoire des Grecs ("History of the Greeks"; 3 vol. , 1886-1891); and popular histories of the Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans and of France, modern Europe, and the Middle Ages.
(From the preface: "The work which follows is an abridged ...)
Duruy was a freethinker and argued in a memorandum that the loss of the temporal power would increase the spiritual influence of the Church.
He had disapproved of the coup d'état of 1851, but he supported Napoleon's Italian policy.
Académie Française