France in the New Century: Portrait of a Changing Society - Hardcover

Ardagh, John

3.62

13 ratings by Goodreads

9780670883608: France in the New Century: Portrait of a Changing Society

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670883603 ISBN 13: 9780670883608

Publisher: Viking, 1999

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Based on months of new field research, Ardagh's book looks at the Mitterrand years, the first Chirac years and the return of the Socialists. He explores in depth the problems that have yielded a mood of anxiety - corruption scandals, unemployment, racism - but his conclusion is shrewdly optimistic. He examines France's ambivalent role in Europe - integration versus national pride - as well as daily topics from the World Cup and Club Med to the role of women and regional renewal.

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Review:

John Ardagh established himself as an astute observer of France some 40 years ago and in his latest foray into all things French he reinforces his reputation. Whether he is dealing with the disillusionment of politics or the disappearance of the Parisian pissoir, his portrait of France brings us bang up-to-date. He has an enviable facility for marshalling a mass of facts and figures and fashioning them into an authoritative and highly readable narrative. The book's essence is to evoke a nation undergoing rapid change in which reform meets resistance and the transformation of traditional attitudes traumatic. Ardagh's reporting ranges from the paradoxes of the French "economic miracle" to the cultural conflicts fought our over the direction of its drama and music, cinema and television. He pictures the position of France in Europe and the world while at the same time short-focussing his lens to pinpoint particulars such as the battle of the little shopkeepers against the growth of the hypermarkets. Ardagh is a francophile but his love of the country does not prevent him from being frank about its failings. He finds himself less pessimistic than many of the French about the state of their country, and for anyone seriously interested in understanding what is happening in France today there can be no better starting point than Ardagh's analysis. --Michael Hatfield

About the Author:

John Ardagh has been a journalist on The Times and the Observer. His books include FRANCE TODAY (first published in 1968 as THE NEW FRENCH REVOLUTION), WRITER'S FRANCE, GERMANY AND THE GERMANS and IRELAND AND THE IRISH, all published by Penguin. He lives with his wife in London (W8).

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