Synopses & Reviews
Provides an overview of the French Right in its many guises. The text includes essays on aspects of the Right from the revolution of 1789, covering themes such as gender, empire, race and ethnicity. It also provides insights into territory such as Bonapartism, Vichy and Gaullism. The French Right is a constant, evolving and continuing theme in all aspects of the political life of the French nation - shaping much of this country's nation-state from the Revolution to the present - and is now a burning contemporary issue. The authors show how the influence of the French Right has entered into all areas of political, economic, social, cultural, religious and especially racial aspects of French life. This revised and updated work edition reveals how the French Right has been a major factor in Bonapartism, the Vichy experience and the World Wars, Gaullism, post-Gaullism and the present resurgence of the Right under Le Pen. This edition takes the story up to the present and demonstrates that the French Right, despite electoral defeat, remains a potent force and an underlying constant in French political experience.
Synopsis
The Right in France explains what the Rightist tradition in France is, where it started and how it was developed in Frances long and complex history of political change. Beyond the narrative history of political ideas, it also looks at such issues as gender, empire, ethnicity, and race--the policy lynchpin of todays Front National. Tracing the history of the Right from the revolution of 1789 to Le Pen today, it provides fascinating insights into Bonapartism, monarchism, the Dreyfus affair, the nature of French Fascism, Catholicism, the army, Vichy, and Gaullism.
About the Author
Nicholas Atkin (1960-2009) was Professor of Modern European History at the University of Reading.
Frank Tallett was, until his retirement, Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Reading.