Why France? : American historians reflect on an enduring fascination / with an afterword by Roger Chartier ; edited by Laura Lee Downs and Stephane Gerson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Downs, Laura Lee, 1955-

Gerson, Stéphane.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Historians--United States.

Historians.

Americans--France.

Americans.

France--History--Study and teaching (Higher)--United States.

France.

France--Historiography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (250 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

France has long attracted the attention of many of America's most accomplished historians. The field of French history has been vastly influential in American thought, both within the academy and beyond, regardless of France's standing among U.S. political and cultural elites. Even though other countries, from Britain to China, may have had a greater impact on American history, none has exerted quite the same hold on the American historical imagination, particularly in the post-1945 era. To gain a fresh perspective on this passionate relationship, Laura Lee Downs and Stéphane Gerson commissioned a diverse array of historians to write autobiographical essays in which they explore their intellectual, political, and personal engagements with France and its past. In addition to the essays, Why France? includes a lengthy introduction by the editors and an afterword by one of France's most distinguished historians, Roger Chartier. Taken together, these essays provide a rich and thought-provoking portrait of France, the Franco-American relationship, and a half-century of American intellectual life, viewed through the lens of the best scholarship on France.Contributors: Ken Alder, Northwestern University; John W. Baldwin, The Johns Hopkins University; Edward Berenson, New York University; Herrick Chapman, New York University; Roger Chartier, Ècole des Hautes Ètudes en Sciences Sociales; Clare Haru Crowston, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Barbara Diefendorf, Boston University; Laura Lee Downs, Ècole des Hautes Ètudes en Sciences Sociales; Stéphane Gerson, New York University; Jan Goldstein, The University of Chicago; Lynn Hunt, UCLA; Steven Kaplan, Cornell University; Thomas Kselman, Notre Dame University; Herman Lebovics, SUNY Stony Brook; Robert Paxton, Columbia University; Todd Shepard, The Johns Hopkins University; Leonard V. Smith, Oberlin College; Gabrielle Spiegel, The Johns Hopkins University; Tyler Stovall, University of California, Berkeley

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction / Downs, Laura Lee / Gerson, Stéphane

1. Medievalist and Francophile Despite Himself / Baldwin, John W.

2. A Mid-Atlantic Identity / Paxton, Robert O.

3. Tough Love for France / Lebovics, Herman

4. Fantasy Meets Reality: A Midwesterner Goes to Paris / Hunt, Lynn

5. Défense d'afficher . . . / Kaplan, Steven Laurence

6. France for Belgium / Spiegel, Gabrielle M.

7. Why Paris? / Diefendorf, Barbara B.

8. Catholic Connections, Jewish Relations, French Religion / Kselman, Thomas

9. Europe without Personal Angst / Goldstein, Jan

10. France, a Political Romance / Berenson, Edward

11. Choosing History, Discovering France / Chapman, Herrick

12. An African American in Paris / Stovall, Tyler

13. Writing at the Margins / Smith, Leonard V.

14. It's Not About France / Alder, Ken

15. Pilgrim's Progress: From Suburban Canada to Paris (via Montreal, Tokyo, and Tehran) / Crowston, Clare Haru

16. Between Douai and the U.S.A. / Shepard, Todd

Afterword / Chartier, Roger

Notes

List of Contributors

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780801464874

0801464870

9780801464812

0801464811

OCLC:

607665543