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A Certain Idea of France

De Gaulle by julian jackson harvard, 928 pages, $39.95 Using pick handles and rifle butts, the police force of one of the world’s most civilized countries surrounded and savagely beat hundreds of dark-skinned men. They then threw them into the beautiful river that flows through a city celebrated . . . . Continue Reading »

Julien Green’s Vatican II

Several years ago, I came across some odd volumes of the journal of Julien Green in a Paris secondhand shop. I had never heard of him, but a few minutes’ browsing convinced me not only to buy the books but to track down the others—which proved to be nineteen volumes­ ­altogether. (Even . . . . Continue Reading »

Understanding Marion Maréchal

Since the 1980s, the French left and right have formed a front républicain or cordon sanitaire to keep the Front national (FN) out of power. When Jean-Marie Le Pen’s daughter Marine took over the party in 2011, she understood that the only road to electoral success . . . . Continue Reading »

Raw Stuff

The End of Eddyby édouard louistranslated by michael luceyfarrar, straus and giroux, 208 pages, $23 Liberal regimes defend their power in the name of freedom and progress. The end of the family wage is the classic example: A great feminist triumph, it “freed” women to swell the labor force, . . . . Continue Reading »

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