Why France? American Historians Reflects on an Enduring Fascination
by Laura Lee Downs & Stephane
Gerson
First English Language Edition
– published in Britain in 2006
France
has long attracted the attention of many of America´s most accomplished
historians. The field of French history has been vastly influential in American
thought, both within the academy and beyond, regardless of France´s standing
among U.S. political and cultural elites. Even though other countries, from
Britain to China, may have had a greater impact on American history, none has
exerted quite the same hold on the American historical imagination,
particularly in the post-1945 era.
To gain a fresh perspective on this passionate relationship, Laura Lee Downs
and Stéphane Gerson commissioned a diverse array of historians to write
autobiographical essays in which they explore their intellectual, political,
and personal engagements with France and its past. In addition to the essays,
Why France? includes a lengthy introduction by the editors and an afterword by
one of France´s most distinguished historians, Roger Chartier. Taken together,
these essays provide a rich and thought-provoking portrait of France, the
Franco-American relationship, and a half-century of American intellectual life,
viewed through the lens of the best scholarship on France.
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