The past has a profound presence in French consciousness, perhaps more than that of any other nation. In this book, Robert Gildea explores France's relationship with its own history and investigates some of the persistent themes in French political culture. It is essentially a book about remembering, about the ways in which the French remember potent national figures such as Joan of Arc and Napoleon. The book begins with an historiographical survey of the broad schools of French historical writing, and then looks at the underlying themes which recur throughout the story of the French past.

Yale University Press, 1994.
ISBN: 9780300057997. 418 pp.
Hardcover. Near fine in a near fine jacket.