“With its lucid introduction and conclusion, clear translations oftexts first published in French, and useful notes on the contributors, this collection will undoubtedly be of considerable use not only to specialists, but also in advanced undergraduate and graduate classrooms.” · European History Quarterly“Overall, this is a gracefully written, groundbreaking study sure to spark lively debate in the years to come. Even though the individual contributors’ approaches are often directly critical of one another, the essays are logically and coherently linked. Readers will appreciate the genuinely comparative perspective, which the authors have brought to bear on France’s role in a wider European drama.” · French Review“The book provides a useful antidote to contemporary versions of the stalemate society thesis found in analyses which separate ‘national-populism’ from ‘generic’ inter-war fascism, identifying it as a familiar response to crisis in France and implicitly reviving the myth of France’s ‘allergy’ to fascism. The fluid analytical perspectives outlined here, in particular by Paxton and Dobry, present a nuanced counterpoint to the teleology of historical analyses shaped more by outcomes than the indeterminacy of messy reality.” · E-Extreme“An important collection...the authors adopt different methodologies and viewpoints, disagreements that thankfully do not degenerate into semantics, thanks to tight editorial control. It is these ongoing debates which lend freshness and colour to this volume.” · Journal of Contemporary European Studies
