'An excellent and up-to-date collection of essays which all students of modern French history will find valuable.' William Doyle, Professor of History, University of Bristol 'Undergraduates, and anyone who wishes to understand contemporary France, should be urged to invest in a copy.' Journal of the Historical Association 'Martin Alexander and his contributors have provided us with a collection that is impressive for both its range and its execution. The 17 contributions cover political, social, economic, cultural, gender, intellectual and colonial histories.' Dr P Smith, Modern and Contemporary France

• Historians and peculiarities of French history; revolution, restoration and beyond; politics abd political cultures from restoration to Third Republic; society and people - "Bourgeois Centuries"?; backwar or different - the strange case of the French 19th century economy; Paris versus the provinces; the Jewish question from Dreyfus to Vichy; France's cultural clashes; political thought, intellectuals and the meanings of "France" 1890-1945; defending France - military policy and the quest for security abroad 1890-1945; the collapse of the Third Republic; Vichy, the resistance and de Gaulle; the economy and the "Great Leap Forward"; women society, and politics in modern France; French trade unionism, society and the state; religion and belief in 20th century France; France and its "other".

'An excellent and up-to-date collection of essays which all students of modern French history will find valuable.' William Doyle, Professor of History, University of Bristol 'Undergraduates, and anyone who wishes to understand contemporary France, should be urged to invest in a copy.' Journal of the Historical Association 'Martin Alexander and his contributors have provided us with a collection that is impressive for both its range and its execution. The 17 contributions cover political, social, economic, cultural, gender, intellectual and colonial histories.' Dr P Smith, Modern and Contemporary France

• Historians and peculiarities of French history; revolution, restoration and beyond; politics abd political cultures from restoration to Third Republic; society and people - "Bourgeois Centuries"?; backwar or different - the strange case of the French 19th century economy; Paris versus the provinces; the Jewish question from Dreyfus to Vichy; France's cultural clashes; political thought, intellectuals and the meanings of "France" 1890-1945; defending France - military policy and the quest for security abroad 1890-1945; the collapse of the Third Republic; Vichy, the resistance and de Gaulle; the economy and the "Great Leap Forward"; women society, and politics in modern France; French trade unionism, society and the state; religion and belief in 20th century France; France and its "other".

'An excellent and up-to-date collection of essays which all students of modern French history will find valuable.' William Doyle, Professor of History, University of Bristol 'Undergraduates, and anyone who wishes to understand contemporary France, should be urged to invest in a copy.' Journal of the Historical Association 'Martin Alexander and his contributors have provided us with a collection that is impressive for both its range and its execution. The 17 contributions cover political, social, economic, cultural, gender, intellectual and colonial histories.' Dr P Smith, Modern and Contemporary France

• Historians and peculiarities of French history; revolution, restoration and beyond; politics abd political cultures from restoration to Third Republic; society and people - "Bourgeois Centuries"?; backwar or different - the strange case of the French 19th century economy; Paris versus the provinces; the Jewish question from Dreyfus to Vichy; France's cultural clashes; political thought, intellectuals and the meanings of "France" 1890-1945; defending France - military policy and the quest for security abroad 1890-1945; the collapse of the Third Republic; Vichy, the resistance and de Gaulle; the economy and the "Great Leap Forward"; women society, and politics in modern France; French trade unionism, society and the state; religion and belief in 20th century France; France and its "other".