Rating: 
Summary: fascinating
Review: Jeremy Duquesnay Adams translation of Régine Pernoud and Marie-Véronique Clin's Joan of Arc: Her Story couldn't treat of a more interesting subject. Out of nowhere, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, a peasant girl from Lorraine travels through anti-French Burgundy to see the Valois claimant of the French throne -- Charles VII. She says that the voices of angels have told her that God has instructed her to raise the siege at Orléans -- which had been going on for some time now -- take Charles to Reims to be consecrated and crowned king -- deep in English territory. She gets to Chinon and is received by the dauphin himself. She is then sent to be questioned by priests and instead of finding her insane -- as would almost certainly be the case should the same thing take place today -- they decide that she's the real deal. Charles gives her an army and she defeats the English at Orléans just a few months after leaving Lorraine. Two months later she has routed an English army at Patay led by, among others, Fastolf, and seen Charles annointed at Reims. Europe was very surprised by this turn of events.Due to court jealousies, Joan falls out of favor with Charles, and a year after her successful relief of Orléans, is captured by the Burgundians. Charles VII refuses to pay her ransom and Joan is transferred to the English. A kangaroo court that rivals 20th century Soviet mock trials is put on by a priest of the University of Paris -- Pierre Cauchon (whose surname is a homonym for the word pig in French.) Joan is condemned to die by fire. Two years after she enters the scene she is executed. Her last word is "Jesus." Many of the soldiers to watch her die find themselves ashamed. This is a tale religions are made of. Pernoud arranges her book in three parts: Joan's story or "The Drama", "The Cast of Principal Characters" and "Issues and Images." Joan's story proper is about 150 pages long and is related in an unusual fashion: as it enters the historical record. Thus we don't learn what is known about Joan's childhood until the end of the first part of Pernoud's book, because details of Joan's life do not enter the historical record until after she is dead. The story begins when it first makes it into the record, which is when Joan goes to Vaucouleurs to convince the connected nobleman there to help her reach the dauphin. According to Pernoud, part of the reason for taking this approach is that there is an unusually large amount of historical evidence about Joan. She was famous throughout Europe soon after she liberated Orléans, there are minutes as well as an official transcript of her condemnation trial, there is the transcript of her nullification trial as well as numerous letters, etc. This approach leads her to quote at length much of the source material, which I found to be a very powerful way of communicating the feel of the era and the characters of the story. One way this contrasts with a traditional chronological rendering of a life is there is an emphasis on the primary source material, or written evidence, which makes the retelling of more action-oriented scenarios feel pale in comparison to others. But even at this remove the story is powerful enough to make you cry. The section on the cast of characters is a roster of short biographies arranged in three categories: the princes, their subjects, and her judges. Within these categories biographies are arranged alphabetically. These are very well done although the structure is a bit encyclopedic for a life. For some reason Pernoud omits Fastolf -- disappointing given the significant role he plays as Joan's opponent. The section on issues and images presents short descriptions of the issues that historians face when considering Joan's story. These range from the theory that Joan was a bastard of the Royal family to the missing transcript of the interrogation at Poitiers to the idioms of Joan and her contemporaries. These are done by presenting the arguments followed by a general sense of what Pernoud thinks of their merits. (Joan was probably not of royal birth.) The book also includes a useful appendix which includes the original and translations of all Joan's letters still extant, a chronology and maps of her travels and cities that play a large role in her story. Be warned: the chronology is useful but it does contradict the first section of the book, which was very confusing for me, at least. Jeremy Adams includes a helpful preface, which is essentially a reminder of the broad historical context into which Joan put herself. This is a beautiful book. I think it is designed to be more of an historian's handbook than a general reader's introduction, but somehow the way it unfolds makes for very powerful reading. It is the sort of book you keep for your library because you feel sure you will be returning to it.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrific book of a Saint
Review: Joan of Arc was a 19 year old woman who accomplished what many men older and wiser couldn't. France was on the brink of collapse when she emerged into history. Half of the country was occupied by the savage English troops under the Kings Edward V and Edward VI. They took advantage of the civil war that ravaged France. The Burgundians were allied to England and against the dauphin. The city of Orleans was the last bastion to hold the English from taking the other half of France and was under siege for 8 months when Joan arrived on at Orleans. Joan's confidence in God and her voices of Saints helped achieve the impossible. She lifted the siege of Orleans, defeated other Enlish forces and paved the way for Charles of Ponthieu, to become King Charles VII. She was later caught and sold by the Burgundians to the English who wanted her burned. Her trial was a travesty of injustice. The clergy tried to trick and humiliate this uneducated woman, but could come up with nothing better than trying her as a heretic who wore men's clothes. Many of the people who wished her dead cried as she was burned. They realized, only too late, that they had killed a holy woman. She was created a Saint in 1920, 500 years after she was burned to death.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books on the Subject!
Review: Not much can be added to the previous reviews. I would highlight the point that it would be wise to read the forward and preface before getting stuck into the book. The layout of the book is somewhat different to your normal biography but in this case it works well. The story is excellent and is well presented and as mentioned by other reviews without any noticeable bias either way. The authors have produced a gripping and entertaining story and have also provided the reader with some detailed lists of principal characters, issues and images and appendices that have copies of some letters written by 'Joan of Arc'. The list of characters was very detailed and makes the book a must have for any decent library. Overall this is a very well researched account of this amazing woman and the story was a joy to read. Recommend to anyone who loves good history.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent biography
Review: Not written in the standard chronology, from birth to death, but as she appears in the history through her's and others correspondence. Since she was only on the scene for about 2 years this is a good way of presenting her life. A large cast of characters is presented and flipping back and forth between the narrative and the micro-biographies is often required. Even still, it is difficult to keep in mind all the different family relationships and how it affected the characters actions. I throughly enjoyed her story and its presentation. The only flaw I found was not much was presented about her future canonization which I would have liked a little more indepth discussion.
Rating:
Summary: MORE than everything you could think of knowing about Joan
Review: Seems that some people can churn out biographies with the speed of an A&E documentary: with all the spark of a bag of hammers. I can't think of a word that means super-duper-mega-whumpa-exhaustive to describe all the background information that is included in this book, so I won't even try. All you need to know is that this was written by the foremost scholars of Joan of Arc. Even better is that it is not just Joan's story, but the appendices give full portraits of ALL the players in her drama.. and these people are shown in the context of their place in that time of history. This is not an easy read, but it is a gratifying read, even for those (like me) who are unaccustomed to scholarly works. TAKE THIS HINT: Keep notes of the players as you go along (name, allegiance..), otherwise it will take a lot longer, as you'll keep getting sidetracked flipping to the back to read & reread.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written, but organized in a very annoying way.
Review: The authors have apparently exhaustively researched the life of Joan of Arc and given that she was literally "on the scene" for a short two years, the story should have been compelling and highly emotional. Unfortunately, they have split the book into three separate sections and if you want more in-depth information about aspects of Joan's life, the politics of that era, a clear understanding of the bewildering array of factions and intricate royal geneaology, the meaning and significance of certain religious images or expressions, the authors force you to turn to another section to obtain it. It was disruptive and rather maddening and seriously interrupted the flow of the book, a narrative which would otherwise have been dramatic, tragic, and truly remarkable.
Rating:
Summary: Joan of Arc Her Story
Review: This is a story of a young girl fighting for what she believes in. She fights to defend her country and ends up giving her life for it. She is murder because she was accused of witchcraft, and is later found to be not guilty. I have done other studies on Joan of Arc, but this one was way more detailed about her struggles and how she finally recieves the glory she deserves. I like how in this book they give a discrite discription of what was going on before Joan of Arc was born. I also love how they told about her visions and how she thought it was her destiny to help her country. I also liked how they added a little bit about her personal love life; that really kept me on edge. This book even though I liked it is not for everyone. It was sometimes hard to understand and to keep up with. They're were many French frases and countries mentioned in this book that if my father was not there to help me I probably wouldn't have understood them. Overall I liked this book.
Rating: 
Summary: BORRRING!
Review: This is a very thorough and detailed history, but it accomplishes what I would have thought impossible: it manages to make the life of Joan Of Arc so incredibly boring as to be painful. If that were the intent, I would be astonished at the facility with which it was accomplished, but as I rather expect that that was NOT the intention, I must say that I can only recommend this book for serious historians, already familiar with the basic story and historical background. The writing style will almost certainly put anyone else off the subject forever.
Rating:
Summary: This is a book on some ones life.
Review: This is about a girl who became a soldier dering the hundred year war. Not loning after that she was captured and taen to teril. If you would lick to know you should read the book.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: This is an eloquent and detailed book, full of scholarly facts and based upon extensive research. Mlle. Pernoud, "'la grande dame' of French historical writing", was probably the foremost expert on Joan of Arc, and she is famous both for her scholarship and her engaging writing style. Better yet, she stands aside and lets Joan do the talking. While "Joan of Arc, By Herself and Her Witnesses" makes for easier reading, this one covers a lot of information not found in the above book. Both would be good choices for anyone studying the subject.
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