The idea of France / Pierre Birnbaum ; translated by M.B. DeBevoise.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Birnbaum, Pierre.

Standardized Title:

France imaginée. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Politics and government.

Historiography.

France--Politics and government--Historiography.

France.

Church and state--France--History--20th century.

Church and state.

History.

Decentralization in government--France.

Decentralization in government.

France--Social conditions.

Social conditions.

Physical Description:

xii, 370 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Hill and Wang, 2001.

Language Note:

Translated from the French.

Summary:

Modern France -- born in the fire of revolution -- was founded on dreams of unity, of a society of equal and like individuals working together. Today, ethnic and religious groups assert their essential autonomy, and France is home to an astonishing variety of opinions and allegiances. Most commentators see today's multiethnic France as a new entity, something contrary to the accomplishments of the Revolution -- but Pierre Birnbaum believes otherwise.

In this major work, France's leading political theorist shows that the clashing identities of different groups did not disappear in 1789, but, rather, persisted in a quieter way. He shows how today's debates over Arab immigrants and the National Front mirror eighteenth-century arguments between republicans and Catholics, state and Church. The result is a brilliantly argued examination of how the French have over two centuries invented and reinvented their nation and their national identity.

Contents:

Introduction: Solzhenitsyn in the Vendee 3

1 The Innermost Thoughts of Alexis de Tocqueville 25

2 The Body of the Nation 44

3 The Counterutopia of Joseph de Maistre 71

4 The Difficult Career of Liberalism 100

5 The Retreat from the Republican State 144

6 The Era of Rival Identities 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-356) and index.

ISBN:

0809046504

OCLC:

44794924