How the French Think

An Affectionate Portrait of an Intellectual People

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Summary

WINNER OF THE GRAND PRIX DU LIVRE D'IDÉES

The French: serious and frivolous, charming and infuriating, rational and mystical, pessimistic, pleasure-loving - and perhaps more than any other people, intellectual. This original and entertaining book shows exactly what makes the French so ... French.

Reviews

There could be no wiser or more witty guide to the problems of France today.
Julian Jackson, Times Literary Supplement

About the author

Sudhir Hazareesingh

Sudhir Hazareesingh was born in Mauritius. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and has been a Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Balliol College, Oxford, since 1990. He has written extensively about French intellectual and cultural history; among his books are The Legend of Napoleon, In the Shadow of the General and How the French Think. He won the Prix du Mémorial d'Ajaccio and the Prix de la Fondation Napoléon for the first of these, a Prix d'Histoire du Sénat for the second, the Grand Prix du Livre d'Idées for the third and the Wolfson History Prize and American Library in Paris Award for the fourth. In 2020, he became a Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (G.C.S.K.), the highest honour of the Republic of Mauritius.

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