Mariel's review

A Small City in France
by Françoise Gaspard

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157379.A_Small_City_in_France?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="A Small City in France" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172266021m/157379.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157379.A_Small_City_in_France?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">A Small City in France</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/91080.Fran_oise_Gaspard">Françoise Gaspard</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8295516?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars I have never read a book quite like this. I'm not sure how to fit into "history" as it is written by a participant in the events described who was trained as an historian. There is no pretense of separation or objectivity (nor should there be), and the subtitle, "A Socialist Mayor Confronts Neofacism" certainly states those biases right off the bat. Francoise Gaspard was the Socialist mayor of Dreux (the Small City in France), who was defeated by a coalition of right and extreme right politicians in the late 1980s. Gaspard discusses the history of the city, its working class population, its divisions and its post war evolution into an immigrant city and bedroom community for Paris. The enormous population growth from the 1950s-70s led to the quick, unplanned development of an urban infrastructure. Public housing projects attracted immigrants and their families from abroad as well as from within France. As the demographics of the city changed, French residents increasinlgy came into contact and conflict with "foreigners." While the economy boomed, things remained relatively stable, but when the economy slowed and then stalled, the immigrant population became the target of xenophobic and racist sentiment. Gaspard questions the media's assumption that Dreux was exceptional and that the victory of the National Front party was unlikely to occur elsewhere. She concludes that Dreux may have been ahead of the country in its extremism, but the rest of France was not too far behind. And that other cities more significant than Dreux have shown extremist leanings that are a cause for concern. In order for France to avoid an extremist take-over, politicians must work to unite the country and address the causes of underlying problems not just their symptoms (elevators and mailboxes). Not being intimately familiar with French politics of the 1980s on a national or local level, some of the details passed me by. But Gaspard's unique insight as an historian and participant adds a new dimension to an otherwise familiar story of racism heightened by economic strain. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/293695?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Mariel's review
rating:

bookshelves: europeandeindustrialization
recommended for: antifacists
status: Read in October, 2007

I have never read a book quite like this. I'm not sure how to fit into "history" as it is written by a participant in the events described who was trained as an historian. There is no pretense of separation or objectivity (nor should there be), and the subtitle, "A Socialist Mayor Confronts Neofacism" certainly states those biases right off the bat.

Francoise Gaspard was the Socialist mayor of Dreux (the Small City in France), who was defeated by a coalition of right and extreme right politicians in the late 1980s. Gaspard discusses the history of the city, its working class population, its divisions and its post war evolution into an immigrant city and bedroom community for Paris.

The enormous population growth from the 1950s-70s led to the quick, unplanned development of an urban infrastructure. Public housing projects attracted immigrants and their families from abroad as well as from within France. As the demographics of the city changed, French residents in...more I have never read a book quite like this. I'm not sure how to fit into "history" as it is written by a participant in the events described who was trained as an historian. There is no pretense of separation or objectivity (nor should there be), and the subtitle, "A Socialist Mayor Confronts Neofacism" certainly states those biases right off the bat.

Francoise Gaspard was the Socialist mayor of Dreux (the Small City in France), who was defeated by a coalition of right and extreme right politicians in the late 1980s. Gaspard discusses the history of the city, its working class population, its divisions and its post war evolution into an immigrant city and bedroom community for Paris.

The enormous population growth from the 1950s-70s led to the quick, unplanned development of an urban infrastructure. Public housing projects attracted immigrants and their families from abroad as well as from within France. As the demographics of the city changed, French residents increasinlgy came into contact and conflict with "foreigners." While the economy boomed, things remained relatively stable, but when the economy slowed and then stalled, the immigrant population became the target of xenophobic and racist sentiment.

Gaspard questions the media's assumption that Dreux was exceptional and that the victory of the National Front party was unlikely to occur elsewhere. She concludes that Dreux may have been ahead of the country in its extremism, but the rest of France was not too far behind. And that other cities more significant than Dreux have shown extremist leanings that are a cause for concern. In order for France to avoid an extremist take-over, politicians must work to unite the country and address the causes of underlying problems not just their symptoms (elevators and mailboxes).

Not being intimately familiar with French politics of the 1980s on a national or local level, some of the details passed me by. But Gaspard's unique insight as an historian and participant adds a new dimension to an otherwise familiar story of racism heightened by economic strain. ...less

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