Vichy's Afterlife: History and Counterhistory in Postwar France - Softcover

Golsan, Richard J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803270941 ISBN 13: 9780803270947

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 2000

Synopsis

One of the distinctive features of the "Vichy Syndrome"―the persistence of the memory of the Vichy regime in French political and cultural life―is that it has been extremely difficult for an authoritative historical discourse to impose itself. Why does Vichy, and all that the name entails, fascinate and even obsess the French, inflecting not only discussions of the past but of the present as well?

In Vichy's Afterlife, Richard J. Golsan explores the complexities of some of the most provocative episodes of Vichy's curious persistence in France's national consciousness. He argues that each of these episodes, events, and scandals constitutes a crossroads where history and "counterhistory"―different or competing versions of the past―encounter one another, often with explosive and even destructive consequences.

About this title

Review:

"Golsan makes good sense out of a vast array of diverse material. This superb volume will interest anyone who wants to know more about conflicting French attitudes toward crimes against humanity committed from the Vichy regime to the present."--Robert J. Soucy, author of French Fascism: The Second Wave, 1933-1939

From the Author:

Richard J. Golsan is a professor of French at Texas A&M University and the author or editor of several books, including Fascism's Return (Nebraska 1997).

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0803270941
• ISBN 13: 9780803270947
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232