The French Republic: History, Values, Debates, edited by Edward Berenson, a professor of history and French Studies at NYU, as well as Vincent Duclert and Christophe Prochasson, explores the history and meaning of the French Republic and the challenges it has faced.

The French Republic, co-edited by Berenson, Explores Nation's History, Meaning, and Challenges
The French Republic: History, Values, Debates, edited by Edward Berenson, a professor of history and French Studies at NYU, as well as Vincent Duclert and Christophe Prochasson, explores the history and meaning of the French Republic and the challenges it has faced.

The French Republic: History, Values, Debates, edited by Edward Berenson, a professor of history and French Studies at NYU, as well as Vincent Duclert and Christophe Prochasson, explores the history and meaning of the French Republic and the challenges it has faced.

The work, published by Cornell University Press, is divided into three sections—“Time and History,” “Principles and Values,” and “Dilemmas and Debates.” It begins by examining each of France’s five Republics and its two authoritarian regimes—the Second Empire (1852-1870) and Vichy (1940-1944)—and covers a range of topics: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity; citizenship; the press; immigration; decolonization; anti-Semitism; gender; the family; cultural policy; and the Muslim headscarf debates.

In addition to Berenson’s introduction and two essays, the volume includes pieces by several other NYU faculty: Herrick Chapman, Stéphane Gerson, Martin Schain, Jerrold Seigel, and Frédéric Viguier.

Berenson, director of NYU’s Institute of French Studies, has also published Populist Religion and Left Wing Politics in France (Princeton University Press, 1984), The Trial of Madame Caillaux (University of California Press, 1992), and Heroes of Empire: Five Charismatic Men and the Conquest of Africa (University of California Press, 2010). His history of the Statue of Liberty is forthcoming with Yale University Press in May 2012.

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