Category Archives: French History

France Bans Niqab

Posted on April 11, 2011 by briansandberg

France is implementing a recent law banning the niqab, or full-face veil, in public spaces.  The French notion of laïcité, a version of secularism, is being used to justify outlawing the niqab, as well as to argue for banning other … Continue reading →

Posted in French History, Globalization, Human Rights, Mediterranean World, Religious Violence, Women and Gender History | Leave a comment

New Book on La Grande Illusion

Posted on April 10, 2011 by briansandberg

Jean Renoir’s film La Grande Illusion (1937) is a brilliant film set in a prisoner-of-war camp during the First World War. A recent book by Martin O’Shaughnessy reexamines this classic film: Martin O’Shaughnessy. La Grande Illusion (London and New York: … Continue reading →

Posted in French History, Historical Film, Uncategorized, War in Film, War, Culture, and Society | Leave a comment

New French Military Policy

Posted on April 10, 2011 by briansandberg

Nicolas Sarkozy has suddenly developed a new French foreign policy that stresses aggressive military intervention.  The French Armée de l’Air has intervened powerfully in the Libyan civil war and French ground forces are on the ground in the Ivory Coast … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Conflict, Empires and Imperialism, French History, War, Culture, and Society | Leave a comment

The New Mediterranean Geopolitics

Posted on April 8, 2011 by briansandberg

French military intervention in the Libyan civil war has prompted new thinking about French military policies and about international politics in the Mediterranean region. Le Monde published a debate between several experts on Mediterranean culture and politics, including the historian … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Conflict, Comparative Revolutions, Empires and Imperialism, French History, Mediterranean World, War, Culture, and Society | Leave a comment

French Military Intervention in Libya and the Ivory Coast

Posted on April 6, 2011 by briansandberg

France is suddenly very active in African conflicts, with major military interventions in Libya and the Ivory Coast. French forces have long been involved in the Ivory Coast and in other west African nations where France arguably still has neocolonial … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Conflict, French History, Gender and Warfare, History of Violence, War, Culture, and Society | Leave a comment

French Revolution on the Radio

Posted on April 3, 2011 by briansandberg

The French Revolution is featured in a recent episode of Milt Rosenberg’s Extension 720 on WGN Radio.  French historians David Jordan (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Paul Cheney (University of Chicago) are guests on the show. David Jordan has … Continue reading →

Posted in Comparative Revolutions, French History, French Revolution and Napoleon, History in the Media | Leave a comment

Becoming a Man in the Age of Revolutions

Posted on April 1, 2011 by briansandberg

Professor Dena Goodman, a historian of women and gender in the Enlightenment and French Revolution at the University of Michigan, will be presenting a lecture on “Becoming a Man in the Age of Revolutions” at the Newberry Library in Chicago … Continue reading →

Posted in Comparative Revolutions, Early Modern Europe, French History, French Revolution and Napoleon, Northern Illinois University, Women and Gender History | Leave a comment

Of Pirates, Empire, and Terror

Posted on March 28, 2011 by briansandberg

An interview with Lauren Benton and Dan Edelstein, authors of two new books on piracy, imperialism, and violence appears in a recent issue of the academic journal Humanity. Lauren Benton’s book, A Search for Sovereignty: Law and Geography in European … Continue reading →

Posted in Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, Empires and Imperialism, French History, French Revolution and Napoleon, Globalization, Piracy, War, Culture, and Society, Warfare in the Early Modern World | Leave a comment

Napoleonic War Finance in the Media

Posted on March 27, 2011 by briansandberg

Princeton economist Paul Krugman discusses war finance during the Napoleonic Wars in his New York Times blog. This short piece is based on an academic journal article published in the Journal of Economic History in 1991.  The article by professors … Continue reading →

Posted in Comparative Revolutions, French History, French Revolution and Napoleon, War, Culture, and Society | Leave a comment

Outside the Law: A Film on the Algerian War

Posted on March 25, 2011 by briansandberg

Outside the Law, a recent film by Rachid Bouchareb, revisits the Algerian War of the 1940s and 1950s. Students in HIST 390 History and Film: War in Film may be interested in this film, since we will be watching the … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Conflict, Empires and Imperialism, French History, Historical Film, War, Culture, and Society | Leave a comment