内容简介

Even in death, Mitterrand remains a controversial and contradictory figure. After the Nazi conquest of France, he spent a year working for the collaborationist Vichy government; yet by 1944 he was a major figure in the French Resistance. Although he was a committed socialist, he was an imperious, aloof man who was never comfortable with those on the lower social rungs. He spoke out eloquently against anti-Semitism, but he defended associates who had aided the persecution of Jews under the Vichy regime. Tiersky, who teaches politics at Amherst College and specializes in French political culture, views Mitterrand as an immensely gifted man whose personality quirks prevented him from becoming a truly great democratic politician. Like Richard Nixon, Mitterand was an inherently suspicious person who feared that associates were plotting against him, and he seemed to delight in launching his own Machiavellian maneuvers. A vital, valuable work for understanding the politics and history of post^-World War II France. Jay Freeman　Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved .