Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong

June 15, 2003
In 1999, freelance bilingual Canadian journalists Nadeau and Barlow traveled to France under the auspices of the Institute of Current World Affairs. Their goal? To determine how France has been coping with the new forces of globalization and modern times in general. The product of their effort is a wide-ranging discussion of the French character and how it has changed since World War II. Their overwhelming generalizations are based mostly on conversations with a variety of sources from seat companions on transatlantic flights to high-level government and business officials. The authors' intent "is not a history of France. Neither is it a specialized study of sociology, demography, political theory, or economics. [It] is a study of France." Therein lies the problem: the approach is so inclusive that any reader, except those quite familiar with France, will have a hard time understanding what Nadeau and Barlow are trying to convey. Unfortunately, neither an index nor a bibliography is provided. Readers may find more satisfaction in Julian Barnes's Something To Declare: Essays on France. Not recommended.-Olga B. Wise, Austin, TX

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2003
In 1999, Canadian journalists Nadeau and Barlow moved to Paris for a two-year fellowship to study France's culture and economy in an effort to understand why the French resist globalization. They began by examining this puzzle: How does a country with "high taxes, a bloated civil service, a huge national debt, an over-regulated economy, over-the-top red tape, double-digit unemployment, and low incentives for entrepreneurs" also boast the world's highest productivity index and rank as the third-largest exporter and fourth-biggest economic power? By delving into France's cultural and political history, the authors show how it all works. Chapters are devoted to the French obsessions about World War II and the war in Algeria and how these events still shape attitudes and policies. Other chapters explore the French insistence on precision in language, their sense of private space, and the effects of immigration. In an era of irrational reactions to all things French, here is an eminently rational answer to the question, "Why are the French like that?"(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)