The Arrogance of the French: Why They Can't Stand Us--and Why the Feeling Is Mutual

by Richard Chesnoff

Imagine the fun Mark Twain would have had with France’s undeclared war on America. That’s the kind of humorous insight that journalist Richard Z. Chesnoff delivers in this book. Living among the French in a tiny farming village, Chesnoff vividly dissects the national arrogance, snobbery, and superiority that fuel France’s blatant contempt for the United States.

And the feeling’s mutual. Frustration with the French in Middle America reached an all- time high when we learned of France’s apparent complicity with Saddam Hussein’s regime. “Freedom fries,” boycotts of French wine, and mockery of all things French have become part of the current political dialogue.

But as Chesnoff points out, Franco-American rancor is centuries old, and our current disgust with the French dates back to at least the 1980s, when they refused to let the United States use their air space on the way to bomb Libya. “Are they our allies or not?” we wondered. If Americans didn’t have such an (unrequited) love affair with French food, fashion, and springtime in Paris, we’d be asking, “With friends like that... ?”

Chesnoff offers witty commentaries on the French way of life and why the two countries find each other so exasperating. Are they really just jealous that we replaced them as a global superpower? Have they forgotten America’s sacrifice for France in World Wars I and II? Do they have a right to be haughty when their cuisine, fashion, art, and universities are losing ground to other centers of culture?

This will be the perfect book for anyone who has ever wondered how a beautiful love affair between two countries could go so wrong.

Genres: France, History, Nonfiction, Politics

208 pages, Hardcover

First published April 21, 2005

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

He's the sort of person who takes offense at, and then reprimands grown men and women for, etiquette short-comings and that's probably more telling than he meant. But there was an interesting history section (containing a lot of weasel words, it's meant to be funny) and I found it an easy read that piqued my interest in reading about some of the more recent world events that he described. I also found it amusing that the so-called boycott list at the back is anything but if you read what he actually says.

I really would have like a bibliography. I enjoy anecdotes but hearing about a friend's entertaining dinner party story and being assured that some people in certain agencies secretly believe such and such only takes you so far.

The section where a bunch of college kids write about what they think about America was kind of eh. They're in their early 20s. Ignorant, idealistic and inexperienced. They don't really know anything and they don't know enough to know they don't really know anything. But they believe very firmly in it. Just like in any country.

I get the feeling that no matter what country he is in he'd find something to gripe about.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author's criticisms of the French are highly anecdotal and at times excessively focused on minor daily encounters. He holds deep grudges over inconsequential interactions (France is not the only country with rude waiters), and from these few people he dislikes, proceeds to generalize to the whole French population. It's an odd read, one I wouldn't particularly recommend.

[Gayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard G Chesnoff, journalist and inhabitant of France, tries to explain why America and France don't get along too well. According to Chesnoff, any time we do get along is an aberration. First of all, philosophically the French are incapable of team play, so getting along is not a huge motivating factor, and graciousness in triumph or defeat is unthinkable. Second, they think American influence in the world is an abomination, since the French should be the leaders of food, fashion, the arts, and diplomacy. Third, even when we weren't leading the world, we were allies of England, whom the French hate on principle (and the feeling is mutual, to be honest). Fourth, their philosophy is very "I am right, so you must be wrong," with all the endearing traits such an attitude fosters.

To be fair, Chesnoff seems to like the French anyway, but he doesn't expect any other Americans to share his feelings. At the end, he includes a few appendices, such as a phrasebook of responses to French rudenesses, and a list of French-owned concerns that could be boycotted if the occasion demands.

Having said all this, it was interesting, but made me feel like discarding my Dijon mustard and my Dior lipstick. So I probably won't read it again.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't help but want to read this book, given its title. For the most part, the book delivers. As an American living in France for the better part of twenty years, the author has a unique perspective about the French, which in my (much less) experience is dead on. The book is an interesting and light-hearted read, but makes some serious points-- including why the French culture and economy are in such decline, and how anti-Semitism bubbles just beneath the surface of that culture. The author's major insight lies in tying the French's narrow application of Cartesian logic to its self-centeredness and mistrust of those displaying initiative, and ultimately, to the serious social problems the French now face. For anyone interested in why most Americans find the French so maddeningly frustrating, I highly recommend this book.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book sort of left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't think the French are better or worse than anybody else, but to look at a people and frame everything you write about them in terms of less than positive stereotypes and generalizations, no matter how they are supported, seems unnecessary and exhausting for the reader. The other gross extreme of course is to kiss-up to the French (*cough* I'll Never Be French (No Matter What I Do) By Mark Greenside *cough*). If you don't mind this tone and you know what you're getting into, you'll probably enjoy this book.

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny, but you can't take this book literally!

[Flavia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Biased, picks up the facts he wants, no objectivity. Some passages are funny, some are surprising, but it is a one-sided story

[Lou · Rating 1 out of 5]

...

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting stuff