Description
France and the French: A Modern History by Rod Kedward is a sweeping, elegantly written narrative history that traces the complex and often dramatic story of modern France. From the shattering impact of two world wars and the painful fallout of the Algerian conflict to the cultural and political upheavals of May 1968, Kedward explores the pivotal moments that have shaped contemporary French identity. But this is no mere chronicle of political events — Kedward also examines the intimate fabric of everyday life, delving into issues of immigration, minority communities, the evolving role of women, and how politics is inseparable from place and memory in the French experience.
Meticulously researched and highly readable, the book captures France’s contradictions: a nation of grand ideals and fraught histories, at once admired and misunderstood. Kedward challenges the clichés and pigeonholes so often applied to France, offering instead a textured portrait of a country whose modern story is marked by resilience, reinvention, and ongoing debate over what it means to be French.
A superb choice for readers of European history, cultural studies, and anyone fascinated by France’s enduring mystique, France and the French is a definitive and insightful modern history.
