WINNER OF THE GRAND PRIX DU LIVRE D'IDEES

The French: serious and frivolous, charming and infuriating, rational and mystical, pessimistic, pleasure-loving - and perhaps more than any other people, intellectual. This original and entertaining book shows exactly what makes the French so ... French.

The French- orderly and anarchic, serious and frivolous, charming and infuriating, rational and mystical, pessimistic, pleasure-loving - and perhaps more than any other people, intellectual. From philosophers to Asterix, this original and entertaining book shows just exactly what makes the French so . . . French.

About the Author
Sudhir Hazareesingh was born in Mauritius. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and has been a Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Balliol College, Oxford, since 1990. He has written extensively about French intellectual and cultural history; among his books are The Legend of Napoleon, In the Shadow of the General and How the French Think. He won the Prix du Memorial d'Ajaccio and the Prix de la Fondation Napoleon for the first of these, a Prix d'Histoire du Senat for the second, and the Grand Prix du Livre d'Idees for the third. In 2020, he became a Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (G.C.S.K.), the highest distinction in the Mauritian honours system.

Reviews
There could be no wiser or more witty guide to the problems of France today. -- Julian Jackson * Times Literary Supplement *
A first-rate book... Sudhir Hazareesingh, brings an engaging personal angle to his ambitious cavalcade through four centuries of French intellectual thought... This vast, opinionated and wholly original book reminds us that ideas still count and that intellectual endeavour still has resonance in the face of the mercantile plutocracy that so much defines the way we live now. -- Douglas Kennedy * New Statesman *
This book depicts Parisian society like a Cambridge party in which everyone knows the jokes, and everyone knows where the bodies are buried. You will read it not just with fascination, but with relish. -- Jonathan Clark * Times Literary Supplement (Books of the Year) *



Book Information
ISBN 9780241961063
Author Sudhir Hazareesingh
Format Paperback
Page Count 448
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 340g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 128mm * 30mm