The Human Tradition in Modern France

The editors and authors of this useful volume are aware of the added dimensions and insights that the scholarship of our day has contributed to our understanding of the complex French past since 1789. But they understand that bloodless categories are not enough and that live men and women made that history. The collaborators are bent here on restoring the human dimension to selected segments of the French past, and the reader of these pages will find lively vignettes of revolutionists, reformers, artists, actresses, colonialists, entrepreneurs, and others. A thoughtful introduction provides the political and social context, and a valuable bibliography concludes it. -- Joel Colton, Duke University
This superb collection of essays brings the past two centuries of French history to life like no other single volume I know of. Vivid portraits of men and women—from Jean-Paul Marat and his assassin, Charlotte Corday, in the French Revolution to the first denizens of 'Club Med' in the 1950s—bring into human focus the great political and cultural upheavals of modern France. Many of these articles are page-turners. They all offer fresh perspectives that will make The Human Tradition in Modern France a treasure trove for novices to the subject and seasoned professionals alike. -- Herrick Chapman, New York University