Bringing together history, literature, and popular culture, this book provides a cultural history of France from a period of dominance in the mid-19th century to one of decline or crisis in the first few years of the third millennium. Contains both chronological narrative and a selection of primary documents in translation.

Auteur
ROGER CÉLESTIN and ELIANE DALMOLIN are both Professors of French at the University of Connecticut, USA, and co-chairs of the French Studies Program. They have worked extensively in the area of Nineteenth and Twentieth century French culture and literature and are the co-editors of the only academic journal exclusively dedicated to contemporary France published in the USA. Having lived and worked in both 'worlds', the authors are academically and personally well versed in French and Francophone modernity, as well as with its American perception. The fact that they have been teaching, for close to six years, the course for which this book could be used, makes them acutely aware of the specific needs of its potential student audience.

Contenu
Introduction: Beyond Stereotypes France at Mid-Century The Shock of the New Around the Eiffel Tower: Modernization, Technology, and the People Around 1900 WW1 and Beyond The 1930's and WW2 The Post-War Years (De)colonization Culture in the 1960's May 1968 and Beyond The Socialist Years Postcolonial and Postmodern France