"[S]uperb... [An] unparalleled contribution to the history of the state and society in France."
Paul V. Dutton, American Historical Review "Nord offers a magisterial, highly nuanced account of the dramatic remaking of the French nation after the crushing defeat of 1940 and the empty years of occupation by the Nazis."
Choice "Most of the time, reading a work on controversial eras of ... Read moreFrench history
and especially the Vichy regime
imparts a teeter-totter effect, as the historian seesaws between contrasting sides. Philip Nord, instead, quietly presents a convincing analysis that integrates and harmonizes the opposing sides without disservice to truth... On the author's insightful telling, what was new on the modern French scene was the presence, and concerted action, of Christians committed to democracy, some of them engaged as organized partisans, others as unaffiliated individuals. The emergent model
what Nord calls 'France's "new deal"'
was a thoroughly French version of the activist state: modern and modernizing in economic life, yet allergic to liberal laissez-faire individualism."
Steve Englund, Commonweal "[V]ery wide-ranging and informed... This is a very thought-provoking work, which will be a point of reference for the discussion of French modernization in the future; it is also very well written even though it deals with daunting technical issues and is a work of primary research. It is rare to find such reader-friendly work at such a demanding level."
David S. Bell, European Legacy "Philip Nord's new book tells a big story and teaches us something novel and important about twentieth-century France... Nord's book makes an original and on the whole convincing argument."
Paul Cohen, Canadian Journal of History "Nord's book is an important work for all of us who would protect and build on the social reforms of the Liberation movement and since; it is better to understand the original intent of the founders in order to revise their work. And Nord has given us the best history, a work that shows us not only what happened but why, the underlying motives of the time without imposing our own wishes or assumptions. In France's New Deal, Philip Nord has written a book that should be read by all, not only those interested in French history but all interested in understanding our time."
Gerald Friedman, Enterprise & Society "Nord's work is a masterfully constructed challenge to our conventional understanding of the postwar state agenda as a new beginning in France. It invites further inquiry into the political roots and the dynamics at the origin, and the divergent developments, of 'new deals' elsewhere."
Kenneth Moure, French Politics, Culture & Society Show Less