This masterful book is the first comprehensive reappraisal of the Vichy France regime for over 20 years. France was occupied by Nazi Germany between 1940 and 1944, and the exact nature of France's role in the Vichy years is only now beginning to come to light. One of the main reasons that the Vichy history is difficult to tell is that some of France's most prominent politicians, including President Mitterand, have been implicated in the regime. This has meant that public access to key documents has been denied and it is only now that an objective analysis is possible. The fate of France as an occupied country could easily have been shared by Britain, and it is this background element, which enhances our fascination with Vichy France. How would we have acted under similar circumstances? The divisions and repercussions of the Vichy years still resonate in France today, and whether you view the regime as a fascist dictatorship, an authoritarian offshoot of the Third Reich or an embodiment of heightened French nationalism, Curtis's rounded, incisive book will be seen as the standard work on its subject for many years.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Was the wartime Vichy regime a helpless victim or an enthusiastic collaborator in Nazi crimes? That question has been the cause of much controversy in France, and according to this comprehensive indictment, "the verdict on Vichy must be guilty." Rutgers political science professor Curtis argues that Vichy's anti-Semitic policies were "a deliberate, autonomous French government policy rather than...a response to German pressure." Vichy passed laws to strip Jews of their civil rights, seize their assets and exclude them from most professions. Worse, the French police apparatus organized and carried out the rounding up of Jews for deportation to the death camps, a task that the small German police contingent in France would have been hard-pressed to accomplish. With more freedom of action than most of occupied Europe, Curtis argues, Vichy was far more complicit in the Final Solution, especially in comparison with occupied Denmark and even the Axis governments in Bulgaria and Fascist Italy, which took concerted action-or at the very least, were less inclined to enforce discriminatory laws-to protect Jews under their jurisdiction. Curtis sets Vichy policy in the context of pre-war right wing and anti-Semitic political tendencies, and explores the post-war consensus that sought to downplay Vichy collaboration in favor of a mythology of heroic national Resistance to the Germans. He goes beyond the Vichy officials themselves to explore the acquiescence or silence of French society-the legal establishment, Church leaders, even left intellectuals like Sartre and de Beauvoir-in the face of anti-Semitic persecution. Drawing on the latest research, Curtis provides a comprehensive, nuanced but morally uncompromising look at France's darkest hour. 8 pages of b&w photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Michael has been over in London this week. He did an excellent lecture at London School of Economics on 13 November. While he was here he was interviewedon EUROPE TODAY (BBC World Service) and BBC RADIO JERSEY. We have reviews coming in the GUARDIAN, JEWISH CHRONICLE, SPECTATOR, FINANCIAL TIMES and JEWISHQUARTERLY. 'an enlightening discussion on Papon's career'Michael Burleigh, LITERARY REVIEW 'Curtis's comprehensive study'Frederic Raphael, THE SUNDAY TIMES "A sustained indictment of French institutions and of much of the French public for abetting Nazi genocide." Richard Overy, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "Nothing in history has so deserved moral outrage as the Holocaust, and it is neither surprising nor improper for individuals such as Curtis to feel such outrage." THE HERALD "In his well-researched book, the American Academic Michael Cur
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More About the Author
Michael Curtis is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of political science at Rutgers University. He is highly regarded as an expert in several fields--political theory, comparative government, European politics and the Middle East. Among his approximately 30 books a few should be singled out as being particularly important and influential. His analysis of the rise of anti-democratic and antisemitic ideology in France after the Dreyfus affair in a book called "Three Against the Third Republic" is considered the definitive study of this era in early 20th century French political history. "Verdict on Vichy," published in the United Kingdom and the United States, and translated into Italian and Czech, was named one of the best books of the year by the Sunday Telegraph, London.
Other books pertaining to this subject are "Totalitarianism," a study of the 20th century European totalitarian regimes, and "Antisemitism in the Contemporary World." The latter book is a collection based on the papers delivered at a groundbreaking conference Professor Curtis organized in the 1980s. This book continues to be referred to today as laying out some of the most important theory about the origins, rise, and persistence of antisemitism throughout the world.
Professor Curtis is considered an expert on the Middle East. His many books on this area of the world cover a number of subjects. He was one of the first to discuss the tangled web of the interconnections between religion and politics in the Muslim world in "Religion and Politics in the Middle East." Other significant books on the Middle East include "Israel: Social Structure and Change" and "Israel in the Third World." His most recent book on the Middle East is "Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India," 2009, published by Cambridge University Press. It was widely reviewed in journals.
Professor Curtis is the author, as well, of textbooks that cover political theory, comparative government, and European government structure. These textbooks are used throughout the United States. One is currently in its fifth edition.
Professor Curtis has been an activist as well as a scholar. For many years, he was the president of American Professors for Peace in the Middle East and editor of the Middle East Review. As such he was often called upon by the press and television for comments as problems arose in the Middle East conflict over the last decades.
Professor Curtis was born in London and educated at the London School of
Economics. He came to the United States and stayed to do a doctorate at Cornell University. In addition to his years at Rutgers, he has taught at Yale University, Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, University of Bologna, and given lectures at hundreds of institutions. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey, is married, and has two sons and six grandchildren.
EDUCATION
London School of Economics, 1951, B. Sc. (Econ.)
with 1st class honors
Cornell University 1954-56; Ph.D. 1958
HONORS
Fulbright Travel Grant 1954
Rutgers Faculty Fellowship, 1963-64, 1968-69
Visiting Fellow, Center of International Studies,
Princeton University, 1973
Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 1981
Fellowship, Bellagio, Rockefeller Institute, 1981
Lady Davis Visiting Professor, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1984
Fulbright Professor of Political Science, University of Bologna, 1989
Fellows, European University Institute, Fiesole, 1989
Fellowship, Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University, 1994-1995
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
Most recent books:
Verdict on Vichy, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2002
Verdict on Vichy, Arcade, New York, 2003
La Francia Ambigua, Corbaccio, Milan, 2004
Verdikt nad Vichy, Prague, 2004
Introduction to Comparative Government, 5th ed., Longman, 2003
Western European Government and Politics, 2nd ed., Longman, 2003
Orientalism and Islam, European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India, Cambridge University Press, 2009
Three Against the Third Republic, reissued with new introduction, Transaction, 2010
Reviews of "Verdict on Vichy" (2003-2006) for editions in different countries) and "Orientalism and Islam"
London Times, Sunday Times, London Daily Telegraph, London Sunday Telegraph, Jewish Chronicle, London, Los Angeles Times, Oxford Times, Times Literary Supplement, The JC.com, Australia, Tribune, UK, Good Book Guide, Irish Times, Dublin, Contemporary Review, The New York Sun, Washington Post, Avvenire on line, Italy, Liberonweb, Italy, Il Giornale, Italy, Il Tempo, Italy, La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, Italy, Giornale di Sicilia, Italy, Il Signa libro, Italy, L'Indice dei libri, Italy, Quotidiano de Bari, Italy, Spectator, Literary Review, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Contemporary Review, Forward, Catholic Herald, Society, Perspective on Politics, American Historical Review, ASMEA, Review of Politics, Sehepukte, Interpretation, International Journal of Middle East Studies.
Lectures and appearances in conjunction with publication of "Verdict on Vichy" and "Orientalism and Islam":
Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago, IL, London School of Economics, National Committee on American Foreign Policy, New York, Los Angeles Public Library, CA, Princeton University Bookstore, Labyrinth Books, Princeton, NJ, Micawber Books, Princeton, NJ, Robin's Book Store, Philadelphia, Bookspan, CNN broadcast on "Verdict on Vichy," repeated many times, 12 radio broadcasts on "Orientalism and Islam," on many stations both public radio and commercial radio throughout the country, Center for Jewish History, New York, The Nassau Club, Princeton, NJ, American Jewish Committee, NJ, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL
Earlier books:
Central Government: An Introduction to the British System, Pitman, London,
1956, 2nd edition 1965; 3rd edition 1970
Three Against the Republic, Princeton University Press, 1959
The Great Political Theories, Vol. 1: From Plato and Aristotle to Locke and
Montesquieu, ed, Avon, New York, 1961
The Great Political Theories, Vol. 2: From Rousseau to the Present Day, ed,
Avon, New York, 1962
The Nature of Politics, ed. Avon, New York, 1963
Western European Integration, Harper and Row, 1965, editor of 15 book series on Comparative Government and Politics for Harper and Row, of which 12 appeared
Comparative Government and Politics, Harper and Row, New York, 1968
The Middle East in the Contemporary World, ed., AAAPME, New York, 1968
Totalitarianism in Perspective: Three Views, co-author with Carl Friedrich and
Benjamin Barber, Praeger, New York, 1970
Marxism, ed., Atherton, New York, 1970
People and Politics in the Middle East, ed., Transaction, New Brunswick, 1970
Elementi di Scienza Politica, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1972
Israel: Social Structure and Change, ed., Transaction, New Brunswick, 1973
The British Constitution, Oceana, Dobbs Ferry, 1974
The Palestinians, co-editor, Transaction, New Brunswick, 1975
Israel in the Third World, co-editor, Transaction, New Brunswick, 1976
Constitutions of Dependencies and Special Sovereignties: Palestine, Oceana, Dobbs Ferry, 1976
Comparative Government and Politics, 2nd edition, 1978
Supplement to the U.K. Constitution, Oceana Press, 1978
Totalitarianism, Transaction, New Brunswick, 1979
The Great Political Theories, 2 vols., rev. ed., Avon, 1981
Introduction to Benedetto Croce, Historical Materialism and the Economics of Karl Marx, Transaction, New Brunswick, 1981
Religion and Politics in the Middle East, ed., Westview, Boulder, 1981
Introduction to Comparative Government, editor and co-author, Harper Collins,
1985
Antisemitism in the Contemporary World, ed., Westview, Boulder, 1986
The Middle East Reader, ed., Transaction, New Brunswick, 1987
Introduction to Comparative Government, 2nd ed., editor and co-author, Harper Collins, 1990
Introduction to Comparative Government, 3rd ed., Harper Collins, 1993
Introduction to Comparative Government, 4th ed., Longmans, 1997
Western European Government and Politics, Longmans, 1997
Marxism: The Inner Dialogs, Transaction, 1997
Introduction to Comparative Government, editor and co-author, Harper Collins,
5th edition, 2003
Western European Government and Politics, Longmans, 2nd edition, 2003
Introduction to Comparative Government, editor and co-author, Harper Collins,
Updated edition, 2006
Other books pertaining to this subject are "Totalitarianism," a study of the 20th century European totalitarian regimes, and "Antisemitism in the Contemporary World." The latter book is a collection based on the papers delivered at a groundbreaking conference Professor Curtis organized in the 1980s. This book continues to be referred to today as laying out some of the most important theory about the origins, rise, and persistence of antisemitism throughout the world.
Professor Curtis is considered an expert on the Middle East. His many books on this area of the world cover a number of subjects. He was one of the first to discuss the tangled web of the interconnections between religion and politics in the Muslim world in "Religion and Politics in the Middle East." Other significant books on the Middle East include "Israel: Social Structure and Change" and "Israel in the Third World." His most recent book on the Middle East is "Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India," 2009, published by Cambridge University Press. It was widely reviewed in journals.
Professor Curtis is the author, as well, of textbooks that cover political theory, comparative government, and European government structure. These textbooks are used throughout the United States. One is currently in its fifth edition.
Professor Curtis has been an activist as well as a scholar. For many years, he was the president of American Professors for Peace in the Middle East and editor of the Middle East Review. As such he was often called upon by the press and television for comments as problems arose in the Middle East conflict over the last decades.
Professor Curtis was born in London and educated at the London School of
Economics. He came to the United States and stayed to do a doctorate at Cornell University. In addition to his years at Rutgers, he has taught at Yale University, Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, University of Bologna, and given lectures at hundreds of institutions. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey, is married, and has two sons and six grandchildren.
EDUCATION
London School of Economics, 1951, B. Sc. (Econ.)
with 1st class honors
Cornell University 1954-56; Ph.D. 1958
HONORS
Fulbright Travel Grant 1954
Rutgers Faculty Fellowship, 1963-64, 1968-69
Visiting Fellow, Center of International Studies,
Princeton University, 1973
Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 1981
Fellowship, Bellagio, Rockefeller Institute, 1981
Lady Davis Visiting Professor, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1984
Fulbright Professor of Political Science, University of Bologna, 1989
Fellows, European University Institute, Fiesole, 1989
Fellowship, Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University, 1994-1995
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
Most recent books:
Verdict on Vichy, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2002
Verdict on Vichy, Arcade, New York, 2003
La Francia Ambigua, Corbaccio, Milan, 2004
Verdikt nad Vichy, Prague, 2004
Introduction to Comparative Government, 5th ed., Longman, 2003
Western European Government and Politics, 2nd ed., Longman, 2003
Orientalism and Islam, European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India, Cambridge University Press, 2009
Three Against the Third Republic, reissued with new introduction, Transaction, 2010
Reviews of "Verdict on Vichy" (2003-2006) for editions in different countries) and "Orientalism and Islam"
London Times, Sunday Times, London Daily Telegraph, London Sunday Telegraph, Jewish Chronicle, London, Los Angeles Times, Oxford Times, Times Literary Supplement, The JC.com, Australia, Tribune, UK, Good Book Guide, Irish Times, Dublin, Contemporary Review, The New York Sun, Washington Post, Avvenire on line, Italy, Liberonweb, Italy, Il Giornale, Italy, Il Tempo, Italy, La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, Italy, Giornale di Sicilia, Italy, Il Signa libro, Italy, L'Indice dei libri, Italy, Quotidiano de Bari, Italy, Spectator, Literary Review, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Contemporary Review, Forward, Catholic Herald, Society, Perspective on Politics, American Historical Review, ASMEA, Review of Politics, Sehepukte, Interpretation, International Journal of Middle East Studies.
Lectures and appearances in conjunction with publication of "Verdict on Vichy" and "Orientalism and Islam":
Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago, IL, London School of Economics, National Committee on American Foreign Policy, New York, Los Angeles Public Library, CA, Princeton University Bookstore, Labyrinth Books, Princeton, NJ, Micawber Books, Princeton, NJ, Robin's Book Store, Philadelphia, Bookspan, CNN broadcast on "Verdict on Vichy," repeated many times, 12 radio broadcasts on "Orientalism and Islam," on many stations both public radio and commercial radio throughout the country, Center for Jewish History, New York, The Nassau Club, Princeton, NJ, American Jewish Committee, NJ, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL
Earlier books:
Central Government: An Introduction to the British System, Pitman, London,
1956, 2nd edition 1965; 3rd edition 1970
Three Against the Republic, Princeton University Press, 1959
The Great Political Theories, Vol. 1: From Plato and Aristotle to Locke and
Montesquieu, ed, Avon, New York, 1961
The Great Political Theories, Vol. 2: From Rousseau to the Present Day, ed,
Avon, New York, 1962
The Nature of Politics, ed. Avon, New York, 1963
Western European Integration, Harper and Row, 1965, editor of 15 book series on Comparative Government and Politics for Harper and Row, of which 12 appeared
Comparative Government and Politics, Harper and Row, New York, 1968
The Middle East in the Contemporary World, ed., AAAPME, New York, 1968
Totalitarianism in Perspective: Three Views, co-author with Carl Friedrich and
Benjamin Barber, Praeger, New York, 1970
Marxism, ed., Atherton, New York, 1970
People and Politics in the Middle East, ed., Transaction, New Brunswick, 1970
Elementi di Scienza Politica, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1972
Israel: Social Structure and Change, ed., Transaction, New Brunswick, 1973
The British Constitution, Oceana, Dobbs Ferry, 1974
The Palestinians, co-editor, Transaction, New Brunswick, 1975
Israel in the Third World, co-editor, Transaction, New Brunswick, 1976
Constitutions of Dependencies and Special Sovereignties: Palestine, Oceana, Dobbs Ferry, 1976
Comparative Government and Politics, 2nd edition, 1978
Supplement to the U.K. Constitution, Oceana Press, 1978
Totalitarianism, Transaction, New Brunswick, 1979
The Great Political Theories, 2 vols., rev. ed., Avon, 1981
Introduction to Benedetto Croce, Historical Materialism and the Economics of Karl Marx, Transaction, New Brunswick, 1981
Religion and Politics in the Middle East, ed., Westview, Boulder, 1981
Introduction to Comparative Government, editor and co-author, Harper Collins,
1985
Antisemitism in the Contemporary World, ed., Westview, Boulder, 1986
The Middle East Reader, ed., Transaction, New Brunswick, 1987
Introduction to Comparative Government, 2nd ed., editor and co-author, Harper Collins, 1990
Introduction to Comparative Government, 3rd ed., Harper Collins, 1993
Introduction to Comparative Government, 4th ed., Longmans, 1997
Western European Government and Politics, Longmans, 1997
Marxism: The Inner Dialogs, Transaction, 1997
Introduction to Comparative Government, editor and co-author, Harper Collins,
5th edition, 2003
Western European Government and Politics, Longmans, 2nd edition, 2003
Introduction to Comparative Government, editor and co-author, Harper Collins,
Updated edition, 2006
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why France like to forget this period,
By lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Verdict On Vichy: Power and Prejudice in the Vichy France Regime (Hardcover)
I found this book to be one of the most complete history of Vichy France I have read in a long time. The premise of the book appears to be very straight forward, Vichy France was an not only a collaborator ally of Third Reich but continued with unusual zeal, their persecution of the Jews within their borders. Vichy France's zealous anti-Semitic practices apparently surpassed most of Hitler's other allies including Italy. What seem to be so sad was the this phenomonen was not restricted to the government officials but to the French population overall within the Vichy borders. The book also shows how readily Vichy France supported Hitler's Germany and such supports seem to be a collective effort.
The book proves to be well written and superbly researched. It was easy reading as history book goes and I enjoyed the prose and flow of the writing. Its definitely is a very uncompromising look at a nation and people who actions have been overlooked too long simply because some of them were actually our allies during the Second World War. After reading this book, its pretty clear why every French who lives through this period quickly associated themselves with the resistence movements which many of them were helping to suppressed during the war. Its a sad story of a nation who sold their soul to the devil and used their defenseless Jewish citizens to appleased that devil.
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