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New Penguin History of France #3
France and the French: La Vie en Bleu Since 1900
Everyone tries to pigeonhole France. The vast numbers who travel there or who discuss the French from across the Atlantic produce judgments that express everything from adulation to irritation. France and the French, it seems, remain resolutely mysterious and inexplicable. In this elegantly written and exhaustively researched narrative history, Rod Kedward brings to life the great, and often terrible, dramas of modern France--the two cataclysmic wars, the Algerian disaster, the student and worker revolt of 1968--but also explores the special worlds of the workplace, immigration, minorities, the role of women, and the relationship of politics to place, everyday life, and collective memory. Judgments will still be made and pigeonholes found, but the rich narratives of this book anchor French identities firmly in their own impassioned history.
736 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
About the author
H.R. Kedward
9 books1 followerHarry Roderick Kedward is a British historian.
Kedward specialized in the history of Vichy France and of the Resistance. Oral history formed a central part of Kedward's historical approach, as he has interviewed hundreds of ordinary Frenchmen and women about their experience of being in the Resistance.
He has also published a general history of 20th century France, under the title La Vie en Bleu.
Kedward specialized in the history of Vichy France and of the Resistance. Oral history formed a central part of Kedward's historical approach, as he has interviewed hundreds of ordinary Frenchmen and women about their experience of being in the Resistance.
He has also published a general history of 20th century France, under the title La Vie en Bleu.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 22, 2018
Perhaps this deserves four stars really, and the problem is simply that it was not quite the book I was looking for. What I was after was an approximate equivalent of, say, the social histories that such as Alwyn Turner and Andrew Marr have written about the UK. What I got was more of a primer on 20th Century French politics with only occasional diversions into life beyond the political sphere.
It was heavy going, but interesting enough in places that I stuck with it. Certainly it struck me, reading the book, that France had a rather more eventful 20th Century than the UK. There was the part that I knew about – the two land invasions in World Wars 1 and 2, and the Nazi occupation following defeat in the second of those invasions, though the book was interesting here in suggesting that the Vichy regime was not quite the pure puppet state that I had, without knowing much about the history of the matter, assumed it to be, but rather a government which oeprated semi-independently and was comprised of people who had at least some degree of sympathy towards some elements of Nazism (or at least, that was the impression I had reading Kedward's book. If I've missed his point, I expect the blame lies with me, though I plead in mitigation that it was a very densely written book).
But before I read this book, I hadn't really been aware of the full extent of the mess that was the slow process of decolonisation in Algeria, the fact that there was an attempted military coup by those who though De Gaulle was betraying the interests of French settlers (the 'pieds noirs') in Algeria or indeed, the rather autocratic manner in which De Gaulle himself had ended the fourth republic and replaced it with one of his own design three years earlier. I had only known of him before as a sort of French Churchill type figure. The section on the early years of the Mitterand government in the early 80s left me with the impression that his party went from 'Old Labour' to 'New Labour' without any change in the personnel at the top (although the period of 'cohabitation' with a centre-right Prime Minister may have played its part) although there were other topics – such as the rise of the National Front and the run-off between Chirac and Le Pen, which I thought might have benefited from a bit more background detail.
So if you want a 'history of France in the 20th Century' then you might want to look elsewhere, but if your interest is specifically in French politics, and the country's role on the world stage, then this is a pretty good primer, if not exactly the easiest read.
It was heavy going, but interesting enough in places that I stuck with it. Certainly it struck me, reading the book, that France had a rather more eventful 20th Century than the UK. There was the part that I knew about – the two land invasions in World Wars 1 and 2, and the Nazi occupation following defeat in the second of those invasions, though the book was interesting here in suggesting that the Vichy regime was not quite the pure puppet state that I had, without knowing much about the history of the matter, assumed it to be, but rather a government which oeprated semi-independently and was comprised of people who had at least some degree of sympathy towards some elements of Nazism (or at least, that was the impression I had reading Kedward's book. If I've missed his point, I expect the blame lies with me, though I plead in mitigation that it was a very densely written book).
But before I read this book, I hadn't really been aware of the full extent of the mess that was the slow process of decolonisation in Algeria, the fact that there was an attempted military coup by those who though De Gaulle was betraying the interests of French settlers (the 'pieds noirs') in Algeria or indeed, the rather autocratic manner in which De Gaulle himself had ended the fourth republic and replaced it with one of his own design three years earlier. I had only known of him before as a sort of French Churchill type figure. The section on the early years of the Mitterand government in the early 80s left me with the impression that his party went from 'Old Labour' to 'New Labour' without any change in the personnel at the top (although the period of 'cohabitation' with a centre-right Prime Minister may have played its part) although there were other topics – such as the rise of the National Front and the run-off between Chirac and Le Pen, which I thought might have benefited from a bit more background detail.
So if you want a 'history of France in the 20th Century' then you might want to look elsewhere, but if your interest is specifically in French politics, and the country's role on the world stage, then this is a pretty good primer, if not exactly the easiest read.
April 25, 2020
Whilst this book undoubtedly is a landmark in terms of French History it is let down by the dense nature of some of the prose. Kedward masterfuly stitches together various narratives and episodes of France in the 20th Century. However, the language at times can be inaccessible and unessarily verbose which sadly diminishes the impact of an otherwise seminal work.
May 24, 2012
I found this in Booksale for just 100 Pesos. Thought I got a bargain.
The font size makes it difficult to read. Otherwise, it is a modest take on modern French history.
The font size makes it difficult to read. Otherwise, it is a modest take on modern French history.
July 16, 2026
Zaten goede stukken in (De Gaulle's periode en de jaren 90), maar taai geschreven
December 20, 2023
This was both a beautiful and overly complex book with more details on some things I didn’t want to read about and missing some details on issues that would have interest me more. Yet, reading Kedward’s journey on France allowed me to better understand the complexity of this beautiful, fascinating country. This book taught me that France is much more complex than I imagined, even after visiting it a couple of times. France’s colony past, political fights on immigration policy and conflict between French exceptionalism and European unity make an interesting and complex country. After reading this book, I realized that many of the divisions and struggles of our own country are shared by France. A declaration published in the secret press in June 1942 was a powerful narrative important to understand French people: “Even as the French people are uniting for victory they are gathering together for a revolution.”
Sprinkled in this book on French politics was so many exciting events and times. It was stimulating to read about the Universal Exhibition in Paris, the event that created the Eiffel Tower and brought in 50 million people in the year 1889. Science was highlighted and France was highlighted even more. The many events – over decades – of women’s suffrage was powerful, including petitions presented over a century ago, marches, and events. The mayhem that was caused by the “massacre of Paris,’ with Pompidou’s modern art museum that opened in 1977 was interesting to read, especially after witnessing this unusual building.
French’s drive to the industrial revolution was similar to America’s. The book cites that in 1906, over half of the industrial workers toiled in small and medium-sized factories and only 10% of the factories had ore than 500 workers. Immigration policy greatly affected those working in factories with tons of workers coming in from Italy, Spain and Belgium, especially in border towns like Nord and Pas-de-Calaris.
France is known for their worker strikes. This book did not fail the reader, covering many strikes over the century. Like in our country, it was the minders who had military strokes in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. But it was more than the miners. It was the vineyard workers in 1907 who not only struck but a half million refused to pay taxes. The building trades bonded together to push for an eight-hour day in 1906. It was women clothing workers (again, much like our country) who struck in 1917 that expanded to railway workers, banks, and public services. Women who worked at department stores later struck in the mid 1930’s. Later even the enormous Renault plant wasn’t free from work stoppages. Despite actions of workers, union members rose and fell for various reasons, including government policy.
The right harnessed energy – and power – by using antisemitism as fuel in the late 1800’s and again in the early 20th century. Like in other countries, nationalism was used in a way that excluded Jews and others despite their long-term presence in the country.
It was also hard to truly understand the role of the French Church, and the ebb and flow of their power, including the education of the French population. It was fascinating to read about how the Catholics reacted to attacks on their church, how the attack on the church reduced its role, and then how a third of the Catholic faith schools that didn’t close from the attack around the turn of the century were closed by 1913. Secularism won.
The movement of people from rural areas to cities also mirrored the population change in our country. By 1931, for the first time, the majority of people in France lived in towns. Like in America, this brought many chances including a decline of life in the countryside, the concern about agricultural life and land, and split of rural versus cities. Cities won.
Wars were also covered in this thick book but not nearly as well as so many other books. But Kedward raises a good point that was absent many books. He appropriately argued that French’s national memory and the victory of their Republic brought together an image of war that would not be changed despite future activities. Despite the division of allies during the Treaty of Versailles, French people walked away with an unified recollection of war and the lessons of war, even if they were not accurate. This concept played heavily into the defeat of the next world war.
The author does a good job explaining the complexities of how France dealt with Hitler’s growing threat. Some in France were arguing that Hitler was not the enemy but there are “within.” The right within France were fascinated with the “personality of Hitler.” Many in France reacted poorly – at least by history – of the Munich agreements. But when Germany invaded Paris, the population had shrunk from nearly three million to 700,000. The armed resistance melted with the Germany troops who entered Paris then paraded “in triumph down the deserted Champs-Elysees.” It was a humiliating defeat caused by years of neglect to have a vibrant defense and poor decisions. The Vichy government and collaboration that resulted was further humiliation. The rise of Chef Petain came at the expense of the Jews, and the unleashing of the country against internal enemies. Horrifying laws were passed including against making abortion a capital offence that resulted in one woman and one man being guillotined and fourteen others sentenced to life in prison. The government took over 40,000 Jewish firms and sold them to French interests at the expense of the Jewish businesspeople. Jews were deported to death camps and when they couldn’t find enough adults, the Vichy government counted children into the numbers to please the Nazis.
There was some resistance, with those opposed using national holidays as ways to demonstrate against the oppression. The French brought those opposed, including students, to trail with heavy sentences. Miners struck against conditions and lack of food, becoming known as the “great popular strike.” Violence resulted with 450 arrests and about half of them deported to Germany to death camps. The author points out that because people were not enrolled into resistance, it had to be created through the ideas and actions of a minority of the population, usually in clandestine methods. The energies were built upon the “reworking of republican and revolutionary concepts of liberty and justice.” Resistance increased on February 16, 1943 when a law was passed enforcing forced labor in Germany. British and American coming raids on railways, ports, and factories in France were labeled as in humane and crimes of war by the Vichy and German radio. As efforts against anyone in France who were suspected of betrayal increased, so did the recruitment of those engaged in the resistance. Countless lives were saved when German military governor, General von Choltitz defied Hitler and signed the surrender on August 25, 1944. Those who were thought to collaborate paid the price with upwards of 6,000 executed immediately after liberation. Women who had intimate relations with the enemy were subjected to enforced nakedness and exposure to French jeering or shaving of their heads in public.
Following the war, instead of unity, there was division between the communists and business, labor, peasants and others. The French “New Deal” nationalized everything from utilities to airlines (Air France) to even the Renault factory, banks, and insurance. It allowed the country to move forward with social change. Women finally were permitted to vote in mid-1945 – in local elections. Inflation stole a third of people’s buying power. And the Cold War changed everything. Through all this, General de Gaulle played a major role in taking the government despite Roosevelt’s irritation with the arrogant man then came back after taking about a year off.
In the 1940’s, France experienced unbelievable growth, averaging 6% per year, restoring pre-war levels and permitting France to enjoy a better life. Decolonization started but progressed slowly and with great resistance from the political elite. De Gaulle continued to be De Gaulle. Pulling out of NATO, recognizing China, holding up French’s national prestige through nuclear weapons, opposing Israel, and driving up antisemitism with his inflammatory words. Enter Mitterrand in 1962.
Like in the United States, the 1960’s were full of conflict and slowing of the French economy. Students demonstrated, workers demonstrated and struck with teachers, air traffic, railways, bus, and others withdrawing their labor. The 1970’s brought in the “explosion of sexual politics” with an August 1970 strike to include “household work and conjugal sex.” Women placed a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe reading, “Even more unknown than the soldier: his wife.”
While America was fighting an attack on workers rights in the early 1980’s, France was increasing benefits to French families with money allocated to allow pensions, housing benefits, raising minimum wage, and providing additional funding for firms expanding employment. The old political slogan of 1936, “Make the rich pay” was brought back into policy in 1981. As the biggest accomplishment Mitterrand provided to French society, he lowered retirement age to 60; something that was just changed this year after incredible resistance from the French who were used to having a long, productive life into retirement. Anti-gay laws were lifted and Pride marches in Paris were first allowed.
As the 1980’s progressed, unemployment shot up and strokes continued. Political winds were changing, and Reagan type politics started to take over. Catholics brought together the largest protesters from throughout the country to Paris to stage the largest protest. Individual freedoms were triumphed. The new leader, Chirac moved the country right – ending the Ministry of Women’s rights, ending the wealth tax, increasing Catholic education, ending immigration rights, and cutting down democratic elections. Political conflict increased. Perhaps most significantly, he privatized companies with a list of sixty-five companies while decreasing workers rights; France allowed employers to use more part-time and contract labor, cut government research for science, and privatized prisons. Rent control was out.
The book ends by pointing that France is moving from French superiority to one embracing Europe and linking with the world. The pride of the country could be felt by the words explaining that the “French bargaining power” was included in the fight in the post-Cold War, attending a NATO summit, and attending the Dayton Accords pushing for peace. On July 16, 1995, the French Prime Minster Chirac accepted their responsibility in the deportations of Jews under the Vichy government. A year later, 100,000 people attended the Lesbian and Gay Pride march in Paris, even with discrimination that still existed. France had developed a close relationship with both Brittan and Germany. Things continue to change but strikes also continue.
It was interesting to read about how France’s troubled relationship with Germany, England, and Russia was intricate in so many decisions over the past century. Then add in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, all nations that had sensitive relationships with France; they are all countries I sadly know little about and even less about their relationship with France. Reading this book was not the easiest introduction to these issues.
The weakness of this book is having too many facts and names when dealing directly with government but too little discussion on what these decisions make to the actual citizen. The warmth of the book does not equate the warmth of the country I visited a few times. But I learned a lot, especially that the country, like most, is not on a continuity of making progress but one where worker interests have to continue to push – or push back – not to lose gains previously won. We certainly saw that with the government attack on retirement at 60.
Sprinkled in this book on French politics was so many exciting events and times. It was stimulating to read about the Universal Exhibition in Paris, the event that created the Eiffel Tower and brought in 50 million people in the year 1889. Science was highlighted and France was highlighted even more. The many events – over decades – of women’s suffrage was powerful, including petitions presented over a century ago, marches, and events. The mayhem that was caused by the “massacre of Paris,’ with Pompidou’s modern art museum that opened in 1977 was interesting to read, especially after witnessing this unusual building.
French’s drive to the industrial revolution was similar to America’s. The book cites that in 1906, over half of the industrial workers toiled in small and medium-sized factories and only 10% of the factories had ore than 500 workers. Immigration policy greatly affected those working in factories with tons of workers coming in from Italy, Spain and Belgium, especially in border towns like Nord and Pas-de-Calaris.
France is known for their worker strikes. This book did not fail the reader, covering many strikes over the century. Like in our country, it was the minders who had military strokes in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. But it was more than the miners. It was the vineyard workers in 1907 who not only struck but a half million refused to pay taxes. The building trades bonded together to push for an eight-hour day in 1906. It was women clothing workers (again, much like our country) who struck in 1917 that expanded to railway workers, banks, and public services. Women who worked at department stores later struck in the mid 1930’s. Later even the enormous Renault plant wasn’t free from work stoppages. Despite actions of workers, union members rose and fell for various reasons, including government policy.
The right harnessed energy – and power – by using antisemitism as fuel in the late 1800’s and again in the early 20th century. Like in other countries, nationalism was used in a way that excluded Jews and others despite their long-term presence in the country.
It was also hard to truly understand the role of the French Church, and the ebb and flow of their power, including the education of the French population. It was fascinating to read about how the Catholics reacted to attacks on their church, how the attack on the church reduced its role, and then how a third of the Catholic faith schools that didn’t close from the attack around the turn of the century were closed by 1913. Secularism won.
The movement of people from rural areas to cities also mirrored the population change in our country. By 1931, for the first time, the majority of people in France lived in towns. Like in America, this brought many chances including a decline of life in the countryside, the concern about agricultural life and land, and split of rural versus cities. Cities won.
Wars were also covered in this thick book but not nearly as well as so many other books. But Kedward raises a good point that was absent many books. He appropriately argued that French’s national memory and the victory of their Republic brought together an image of war that would not be changed despite future activities. Despite the division of allies during the Treaty of Versailles, French people walked away with an unified recollection of war and the lessons of war, even if they were not accurate. This concept played heavily into the defeat of the next world war.
The author does a good job explaining the complexities of how France dealt with Hitler’s growing threat. Some in France were arguing that Hitler was not the enemy but there are “within.” The right within France were fascinated with the “personality of Hitler.” Many in France reacted poorly – at least by history – of the Munich agreements. But when Germany invaded Paris, the population had shrunk from nearly three million to 700,000. The armed resistance melted with the Germany troops who entered Paris then paraded “in triumph down the deserted Champs-Elysees.” It was a humiliating defeat caused by years of neglect to have a vibrant defense and poor decisions. The Vichy government and collaboration that resulted was further humiliation. The rise of Chef Petain came at the expense of the Jews, and the unleashing of the country against internal enemies. Horrifying laws were passed including against making abortion a capital offence that resulted in one woman and one man being guillotined and fourteen others sentenced to life in prison. The government took over 40,000 Jewish firms and sold them to French interests at the expense of the Jewish businesspeople. Jews were deported to death camps and when they couldn’t find enough adults, the Vichy government counted children into the numbers to please the Nazis.
There was some resistance, with those opposed using national holidays as ways to demonstrate against the oppression. The French brought those opposed, including students, to trail with heavy sentences. Miners struck against conditions and lack of food, becoming known as the “great popular strike.” Violence resulted with 450 arrests and about half of them deported to Germany to death camps. The author points out that because people were not enrolled into resistance, it had to be created through the ideas and actions of a minority of the population, usually in clandestine methods. The energies were built upon the “reworking of republican and revolutionary concepts of liberty and justice.” Resistance increased on February 16, 1943 when a law was passed enforcing forced labor in Germany. British and American coming raids on railways, ports, and factories in France were labeled as in humane and crimes of war by the Vichy and German radio. As efforts against anyone in France who were suspected of betrayal increased, so did the recruitment of those engaged in the resistance. Countless lives were saved when German military governor, General von Choltitz defied Hitler and signed the surrender on August 25, 1944. Those who were thought to collaborate paid the price with upwards of 6,000 executed immediately after liberation. Women who had intimate relations with the enemy were subjected to enforced nakedness and exposure to French jeering or shaving of their heads in public.
Following the war, instead of unity, there was division between the communists and business, labor, peasants and others. The French “New Deal” nationalized everything from utilities to airlines (Air France) to even the Renault factory, banks, and insurance. It allowed the country to move forward with social change. Women finally were permitted to vote in mid-1945 – in local elections. Inflation stole a third of people’s buying power. And the Cold War changed everything. Through all this, General de Gaulle played a major role in taking the government despite Roosevelt’s irritation with the arrogant man then came back after taking about a year off.
In the 1940’s, France experienced unbelievable growth, averaging 6% per year, restoring pre-war levels and permitting France to enjoy a better life. Decolonization started but progressed slowly and with great resistance from the political elite. De Gaulle continued to be De Gaulle. Pulling out of NATO, recognizing China, holding up French’s national prestige through nuclear weapons, opposing Israel, and driving up antisemitism with his inflammatory words. Enter Mitterrand in 1962.
Like in the United States, the 1960’s were full of conflict and slowing of the French economy. Students demonstrated, workers demonstrated and struck with teachers, air traffic, railways, bus, and others withdrawing their labor. The 1970’s brought in the “explosion of sexual politics” with an August 1970 strike to include “household work and conjugal sex.” Women placed a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe reading, “Even more unknown than the soldier: his wife.”
While America was fighting an attack on workers rights in the early 1980’s, France was increasing benefits to French families with money allocated to allow pensions, housing benefits, raising minimum wage, and providing additional funding for firms expanding employment. The old political slogan of 1936, “Make the rich pay” was brought back into policy in 1981. As the biggest accomplishment Mitterrand provided to French society, he lowered retirement age to 60; something that was just changed this year after incredible resistance from the French who were used to having a long, productive life into retirement. Anti-gay laws were lifted and Pride marches in Paris were first allowed.
As the 1980’s progressed, unemployment shot up and strokes continued. Political winds were changing, and Reagan type politics started to take over. Catholics brought together the largest protesters from throughout the country to Paris to stage the largest protest. Individual freedoms were triumphed. The new leader, Chirac moved the country right – ending the Ministry of Women’s rights, ending the wealth tax, increasing Catholic education, ending immigration rights, and cutting down democratic elections. Political conflict increased. Perhaps most significantly, he privatized companies with a list of sixty-five companies while decreasing workers rights; France allowed employers to use more part-time and contract labor, cut government research for science, and privatized prisons. Rent control was out.
The book ends by pointing that France is moving from French superiority to one embracing Europe and linking with the world. The pride of the country could be felt by the words explaining that the “French bargaining power” was included in the fight in the post-Cold War, attending a NATO summit, and attending the Dayton Accords pushing for peace. On July 16, 1995, the French Prime Minster Chirac accepted their responsibility in the deportations of Jews under the Vichy government. A year later, 100,000 people attended the Lesbian and Gay Pride march in Paris, even with discrimination that still existed. France had developed a close relationship with both Brittan and Germany. Things continue to change but strikes also continue.
It was interesting to read about how France’s troubled relationship with Germany, England, and Russia was intricate in so many decisions over the past century. Then add in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, all nations that had sensitive relationships with France; they are all countries I sadly know little about and even less about their relationship with France. Reading this book was not the easiest introduction to these issues.
The weakness of this book is having too many facts and names when dealing directly with government but too little discussion on what these decisions make to the actual citizen. The warmth of the book does not equate the warmth of the country I visited a few times. But I learned a lot, especially that the country, like most, is not on a continuity of making progress but one where worker interests have to continue to push – or push back – not to lose gains previously won. We certainly saw that with the government attack on retirement at 60.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2010
A richly dense look at 20th-century France. Make sure you understand French politics (Prime Minister vs. President, etc.) when you read it, though, as Kedward assumes a knowledge of it. Well worth reading--balanced and in depth.
August 9, 2008
An incredibly informed work, no question, but you really need to know something about France before cracking this thing open. Not a small book, and each page presents a staggering amount of information.
September 4, 2010
A mighty tome indeed, and not the lightest read ever. That being said, I learned a great deal about France. Worth reading certainly
Want to Read
December 3, 2011I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10311245
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10311245
June 5, 2012
Took a while to make my way through this, but it is a book you can put down and pick up again at intervals, slowly digesting this exceptional country's last century in a highly quaffable form.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews