France on the Brink: A Great Civilization Faces a New Century - Softcover

Fenby, Jonathan

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9781611451542: France on the Brink: A Great Civilization Faces a New Century

Softcover

ISBN 10: 161145154X ISBN 13: 9781611451542

Publisher: Arcade Publishing, 2011

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The one book that explains what has gone wrong with one of the most admired and influential countries in the world.

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Review

Images of France frequently include smartly dressed Parisians; sidewalk caf�s serving strong coffee and fresh pastries to elegantly clad, chain-smoking students; the rolling hills of Provence draped in lavender; and wizened farmers in berets selling freshly grown vegetables, cheese, and homemade bread at the local market. Or at least they used to. In France on the Brink, Jonathan Fenby depicts France as a modern nation far removed from the stereotypes of its past.

Fenby's introductory chapter presents a catalogue of France's virtues and contributions to culture over the centuries. He devotes the remainder of the book to debunking the French myth, examining what he perceives as its collision course with the realities of the 21st century. The 13 self-contained chapters analyze particular elements of French existence and illustrate how it arrived at its present stage of near collapse. Having spent 30 years either living in France or observing it as a journalist, Fenby commands a firm grasp of French life, politics, regional differences, and national mood. This expertise is illustrated by his breadth of analysis--of everything from baguettes to the National Front, from Mitterand to Bardot, from economics to agriculture.

Despite the pessimism implied by Fenby's title, he concludes his study on an optimistic note: He views the cohabitation between the Gaullist President Jacques Chirac and the socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin as a unique opportunity to lead a fresh revolution, one that embraces the modern world while preserving the best of the past. --Bertina Loeffler Sedlack

About the Author

Jonathan Fenby is a former editor of the Observer and the South China Morning Post, and is a former bureau chief in France for the Economist and Reuters. He is the author of ten books, including the acclaimed biography Chiang Kai-Shek: China’s Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost and The Sinking of the Lancastria, which tells the story of the greatest disaster in British naval history. He was made a commander of the British Empire and a knight of the French Order of Merit for services to journalism. He lives in London.

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