Certain Ideas of France: Essays on French History and Civilization

The title of this book is inspired by the famous opening words of General de Gaulle’s memoirs of World War II All my life I have thought of France in a certain way . This is a collection of essays that deal with a variety of subjects such as culture, society, politics, and diplomacy, with one section devoted entirely to French historians. The first section contains a chapter on the painter Aryt Scheffer and the France of his time - the first half of the 19th century. The second chapter continues this theme and deals with Emile Zola and the Paris of the Second Empire. Two other chapters discuss aspects of the Third Republic, sports and students, respectively. The second section examines French intellectuals. It offers an in-depth analysis of the group of intellectuals that supported Zola and Dreyfus. The third section looks at politics and diplomacy. French foreign policy is discussed both in its long-term perspective as well as more specifically in the period of Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle’s idea of France is compared with that of an author by whom he was greatly influenced, Charles Peguy. Finally there is a section on French history, including two biographical essays, one about Gabriel Hanotaux, and another about Fernand Braudel.