Theodore Zeldin – författare

The story of a search for a new art of living. How can one escape from work colleagues who are bores and from organisations that thrive on stress? What new priorities can people give to their private lives? When the romantic ideal is disappointing, how else can affections be cultivated? If only a few can become rich, what substitute is there for dropping out? If religions and nations disagree, what other outcomes are possible beyond strife or doubt? Where there is too little freedom, what is the alternative to rebellion? When so much is unpredictable, what can replace ambition?

Questions include: What is the great adventure of our time? What is a wasted life? How can people lose their illusions about themselves? What alternatives are there to being a rebel? What can the poor tell the rich? What could the rich tell the poor? How many ways of committing suicide are there? How can an unbeliever understand a believer? How can a religion change? How can prejudices be overcome? How can one think about the future, without trying to predict it or worrying about it? Is ridicule the most effective form of non-violent protest? How does one acquire a sense of humour? What stops people feeling completely at home in their own country? How many nations can one love at the same time? Why do so many people feel unappreciated, unloved and not fully alive? How else might women and men treat one another? What can replace the shortage of soul-mates? Is another kind of sexual revolution achievable? What can artists aim for beyond self-expression? What is more interesting than becoming a leader? What is the point of working so hard? Are there more amusing ways of earning a living? What else can one do in a hotel? What more can the young ask of their elders? Is remaining young at heart enough to avoid becoming old? What is worth knowing? What does it mean to be alive? Where can one find nourishment for the mind?

First published in 1970, Conflicts in French Society is a detailed study of the social history of anticlericalism. Its four chapters, based on original research, reinterpret the causes and extent of some traditional conflicts in modern French society. In ‘The Conflict of Moralities,’ Theodore Zeldin investigates the confession to discover what sins and pleasures of daily life were revealed and repressed by it. This provides rare insight into sexual behaviour in nineteenth-century France. In ‘The Conflict in Education,’ Robert Anderson shows us how different the pupils of church and state schools really were and challenges the view that the two systems divided France into hostile camps. In ‘The Conflict in Politics,’ Austin Gough describes the way the church organized a political following, and how the Bonapartists fought back. In ‘The Conflict in Village Life,’ Roger Magraw studies popular anticlericalism at the local level and shows how ideology was far from being the major cause of it. In doing so, he provides an intimate picture of village life. This book will be of interest to sociologists of religion and educationists as well as to those wishing to understand the politics and morals of France.

First published in 1970, Conflicts in French Society is a detailed study of the social history of anticlericalism. Its four chapters, based on original research, reinterpret the causes and extent of some traditional conflicts in modern French society. In ‘The Conflict of Moralities,’ Theodore Zeldin investigates the confession to discover what sins and pleasures of daily life were revealed and repressed by it. This provides rare insight into sexual behaviour in nineteenth-century France. In ‘The Conflict in Education,’ Robert Anderson shows us how different the pupils of church and state schools really were and challenges the view that the two systems divided France into hostile camps. In ‘The Conflict in Politics,’ Austin Gough describes the way the church organized a political following, and how the Bonapartists fought back. In ‘The Conflict in Village Life,’ Roger Magraw studies popular anticlericalism at the local level and shows how ideology was far from being the major cause of it. In doing so, he provides an intimate picture of village life. This book will be of interest to sociologists of religion and educationists as well as to those wishing to understand the politics and morals of France.