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France. Inventing the Nation. By Timothy Baycroft. London: Hodder Education.2008. xvi + 243 pp. 19.99. ISBN 978 0340 705704.

This elegant, concise and eminently readable book considers the invention of the

French nation. That is to say, it not only considers some of the political, social and

cultural developments which have shaped France over the last two hundred years but

also, more importantly, analyses how and why certain of these developments subsequentlycame to find particular purchase in the public psyche. It traces the way in which French

national identity was slowly constructed, via a complex process of attaching symbolic

significance to an entire host of cultural traits and practices, historical places, events,

people and institutions (p. 228), sometimes deliberately so. Thus, rather than a simple

history of France, or a mere deconstruction of contemporary notions of Frenchness, the

book provides a subtle and compelling essay on the process of nation-building in the

two centuries following the Revolution (p. xii).

The book is divided into three sections. The first (Inventing French History) considers

key elements of French history from 1789 to the present. As Baycroft notes, a cohesive

national story is a key element in any national mythology. This section thus introducesthe reader briefly to the role of the Revolution, Napoleon, the political development of

the republics and various conflicts (up to and including the Second World War and the

Algerian War) in shaping the French nation. Throughout, the discussion considers not

just the events themselves but also the interpretations placed upon them and the

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