Customer Reviews

Vile France: Fear, Duplicity, Cowardice and Cheese

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Well, just to clear this up for the "one-star" reviewers, I did indeed read this book, and I found it delightful. This is not because I hate the French. I've been to France, though not since the early 1990's, and I happen to have some French relatives. In general, I found the French people to be perfectly nice and as hospitable as any other people in Europe. I am also a great admirer of many aspects of French culture, from their Romanesque and Gothic churches to Jean-Philippe Rameau and Francis Poulenc in music, to the Impressionists.

But long before Jacques "Chiraq", I had my doubts about the worth of France as a political ally. Today I no longer have any doubts that in this respect the French are mostly - though not entirely - worthless. Boyles' book is a head-on attack against French political and intellectual "elites" - their pomposity, their arrogance, their repellent envy-driven hostility to America, and not least their laughable, yet invincible, self-delusion that kneejerk anti-American bigotry constitutes a form of sophistication. Only a guy like John Kerry could find the French elites sympathetic.

On the other hand, it is important to stress here (so that the "one-star" reviewers don't deceive you) that Boyles' book is NOT an attack on the fundamental decency of ordinary French people, or a denigration of everything in French culture. If it HAD been that I can honestly tell you that the book would have bored me. I find what's happened to France politically in recent years to be not just loathsome, but deeply depressing. Yet I have trouble feeling a particular animosity toward her, because I think France is an illustration of a wider phenomenon affecting most of Western Europe: a continent-wide cave-in to the most puerile forms of political correctness vis-a-vis Islam and the Arab world that isn't going to buy the Europeans peace and tranquillity, as they seem to think. The Islamic world's misery is largely a product of the Islamic world's indigenous backwardness and corruption, and for any Western country to apologize to Muslims for any suffering purportedly caused by European colonialism only generates an unhealthy lack of realism in an already deluded Muslim world that their problems are somebody else's fault, and that therefore they can masquerade as victims of oppression, rather than the perpetrators of it that they have been for most of the last 1400 years. Indeed, it is in light of Arab Islam's 1400-year-old imperialism and violent intolerance of non-Muslims that the conflict with Israel must be properly viewed, a fact all too often lost on French and Western European "intellectuals" who seem to think that Jews are worthy of sympathy only when they're being slaughtered by Germans, but not when it is Arabs doing the hating and killing.

As for France, I wish that that country could regain enough of its self-respect that it would not need to indulge in the childish America-bashing and Bush-hatred that passes for intellectual discourse there. In the meantime, Boyles' wonderful book is a must read - not least for the French themselves.

...but it does take a good poke at the French ruling elite -- something the French themselves do in their own books incidentally. The author makes this very clear in his introduction: The 'France' in the title is the 'ongoing invention of its...elitist, self-satisfied, self-obsessed...Paris-dwelling governing class' who, the author goes on to point out, treat the typical French citizen with 'cynical contempt.' Surely many French men and women would agree!

I received this book for Christmas as it was on my list. However I am quite surprised at the way these reviews are done. So I shall write one of my own as many of these seem to be a collection of disingenuous rants.

Most of the one-star 'reviews' here seem to be by people who quite obviously have not read the book but assume anything anti-French must be a right-wing rant. That's very odd. I reckon the American left must be reduced to thinking well of anyone who speaks ill of the US. (The author of this book points out that French behaviour toward the US is the same now as it was under Clinton and other presidents.)

But what is even more odd is the lengths to which some of these people have gone. 'Jonathan' for example quotes a line from page 144 of the book and says:

"Let me give just one example of what I mean. On Page 144 he says:

"'The economy of the eurozone rests on the solid bedrock of irrational faith.'

"Okay, so far - so good. I think I know where he's going here and I expect he'll finish it off with some good solid examples of the European's irrational economic faith. But here's what he says next:

"'Take, for example, the EU's economic stability pact, an agreement intended to make nations obey the God-given law of the checkbook. But don't take it seriously, because nobody else does.'

"And in the next paragraph he goes on to talk about something else.

"So, am I crazy?"

To which I would answer, no -- but 'Jonathan' is either a lazy reader or a dishonest one, since the author goes on for several pages through an entire section of a chapter to discuss the European stability pact, giving a summary of its history and the reasons for and results of its ineffectiveness.

I found this book to be witty and insightful. I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because it lacks an index and is frankly too brief. I wish there had been more. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick and balanced look at why the French govenment does what it does in relation to the US.

Too often American criticisms of France are circumscribed by cartoonish stereotypes from "The Simpsons," impressions of snooty waiters from old jokes, and unflattering photographs of arrogant French diplomats at the U.N.

Well, its all true, and even worse, as this book excellently spells out. I'm an American who lives in France, and upon first reading this book I kept saying to myself "well, what is groundbreaking about this analysis? That's obvious."

Then it dawned on me: Americans don't have any idea how bad it is here in France.

The sclerotic bureaucracy, the quiescent press, the stultifyingly monolithic thinking, the lack of any political difference between the `left' and `right,' the petty jealousy, the cowardice, the arrogance, the indifferent elite, the lack of upward or downward social or economic mobility, the confiscatory taxes, the religious hostility of the elite, the arrested and shattered creativity, and the hollow unspoken recognition that all that remains of their culture is a poor imitation of another, more successful culture that they consider more base, abhor, but embrace in a decadent gargantuan bite anyway. Their elites dream of regulating America away, and have nightmares with each recognition of their own lost opportunities. After all, blue jeans and French fires started here, but were perfected, uuuhhhhhhhhh, ....France would prefer not to say.

And the horrible, terrifying, omnipresent Cartesian worldview, believing in a mechanical perfection of man that forbids them ever to admit they were wrong.

It is all here for your reading pleasure.

I lived and worked in France for over three years, and rarely have I encountered a book on any subject that gets it so right. Boyles' take on France is hilarious -- and, alas, all too accurate. It is a wasted old roue of a country, sustained by memories of former glory, (largely imagined), and bitterly resentful of the success of more robust and forward-looking societies, mainly our own. For far too long many Americans have been willing to allow that the French, for all their faults, at least have the saving grace of style -- but even this is a myth. In fact, being as woefully insecure as any people on earth, they are desperate trend-followers, afraid even to whisper an independent thought lest someone make fun of them. An exaggeration? Read this book. Boyles totally nails them, and it's about time!

I found this author through another book he wrote (A Man's Life) and found it to be just as brilliant, funny, and well-written. Anyone who really read the book and didn't just glance at the cover and become offended, will realize that the book isn't insulting to French people at all. It's quite the opposite. You can see the author likes the people of France. It's their government that he has issues with. (It's kind of like hating the Nazis without hating the German people who had to live under the terrible regime) In the beginning of the book, he tells about how his kids got lost and how much concern and helpfulness the French people gave him (the kids were found), so it's clear that the people of France are not the vicious target that others are trying to assume (I doubt they read the book). The book exposes the nauseous gruel that the people have been fed by their very own government and how they deserve better. A definite good read.

With those words Francois Mitterand urged French support for the Maastricht Treaty and the European Union. And Denis Boyle goes on to prove that Mitterand meant every word. Vile France, as almost every reviewer reminded us, is kind to the people of France. Well-- understanding of their limitations might be a better phrase, but for those who live within Le Beltway: the journalists, the Labor Unions and their workers, the Universities and their jaded left-wing ageing Professoriate, the service crew such as waiters, hops, and clerks, Boyles is as incisive and biting as Silent Bob!

Want to knew why Chirac will be in jail after his Presidency, read here! Want to know who's rooting for (and conniving that) America takes a huge hit in Iraq, read here. Why the EU isn't about Europe, but about France and Germany, read here. Why the UN is a pretty useless place, read here.

This book is every Francophile's nightmare because it goes after the French with no John-Kerry like nuance whatsoever but a whole lot of funny, funny stuff. It's Boyles' version of South Park set in Paris.

Denis Boyles nails the French in this book: cynical, depressing, and gutless. Their fabled "gloire" is a myth; the fabulous military history ended with the battle of Waterloo, and the majority of Frenchmen during WWII would rather have remained under German occupation. It's not surprising that a recently released report on the French condition described the average Frenchman as depressed, despairing, and incapable of seeing a positive future for himself or his country.

This book is so well-researched, so incisive and well-written its critics (who may or may not have actually read it; one can't tell from their epithet-deleted diatribes) are reduced to infantile name-calling and sputtering insults. As opposed, that is, to a reasoned and rational repsonse which, given the weight of the documented evidence and historical record cited might be impossible. The indictment Boyles presents here is strong. Despite our saving them three times in the past century from their totalitarian enemies (the middle one goose-stepping through undefended Paris), the French, especially the postwar French have thumbed their diplomatic nose at us repeatedly, often doing everything within their power to undermine American foreign policy and attempts to spread democracy and freedom abroad. Having studied and taught history, I knew of some examples of their treachery but had no idea until I read 'Vile France' of the totality of their infamy and cosmic ingratitude. When you turn the final page you don't know whether to hate the French for their crimes against humanity (sound too strong, read this book) or pity the poor devils for facing a future-less future in a demographic time bomb of a once proud, if too proud nation state.

Boyles has a nice easy style, remindful of a Theodore Dalrymple or a Harry Stein, almost conversational, often very funny, self-effacing and ironic. (Fair play on the last point for, as Boyles reminds, the French invented irony.) For my money as an historian, this is the best history one can read; the facts have been painstakingly marshalled, placed logically in context and stylishly but non-pedantically rendered. And in this instance, I would go so far as to say this is an important read for anyone truly concerned with the future of American Foreign policy. I sure hope our new Secretary of State finds the occasion to peruse its pages, although it might provoke a diplomatic 'incident.' It ought to be required reading for every member of the diplomatic corps.

This book is a somewhat humorous attempt to cover a very serious subject. Too many of the reviews of this book are "partisan;" that is, Francophiles rant against the book and Francophobes rave for it.

Regardless of today's policitical situation, the author presents compelling evidence that the goal of France has never necessarily been the good of America. In fact, oftentimes France has privately, if not publicly, opposed America's goals and plans.

Much of the evidence the author presents, like it or not, is not opinion or conjecture, but is historical fact. Yes, he sometimes presents it in a biting, or sarcastical manner, but it is humor nonetheless. I certainly found it entertaining, although disturbing at times as well.

Francophiles who worship at the shrine of Frenchness will hate this book! Others, like me, who formerly were baffled by the motivations behind the virulent anti-Americanism pervading France will find it enlightening. Denis Boyles explains why the French act like they do, and why we should take their declarations of friendship with many grains of salt.