Profile
My PhD from Cambridge University was a study of the impact of the 1930s Depression on French politics. All my subsequent research has centred on French history since the 1930s.
I have written on the defeat of France in 1940, the German Occupation, homosexuality in postwar France and the ‘events’ of May 1968. I am currently writing a biography of de Gaulle.
Teaching
Research
Research Interests:
My research interests include:
- The crisis of the 1930s in France: Socialism, Popular Front, economic depression
- The German Occupation, Vichy France, Resistance
- De Gaulle and the history of Gaullism
- The ‘1968’ years
- History of Homosexuality
- Debates about memory in modern France
- French film 1930s-1960s
Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowship 2012-2015.
Publications
Books:
The Politics of Depression in France (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), x+303 pp. [Japanese translation 2001]
The Popular Front in France: Defending Democracy 1934-1938 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, xiv+353pp [Japanese Translation 1992]
France: the Dark Years 1940-1944 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 680pp. [French trans. France sous l’Occupation 1940-1944, Flammarion, 2004, 852pp. Czech Translation 2006.
The Short Oxford History of Europe 1900-1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 254pp. [I was the editor of this volume as well as writing the introduction and conclusion. A Portuguese translation was published last month, and another translation has been arranged into Polish].
The Fall of France (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 263pp. Czech Translation 2007.
De Gaulle (London: Haus Publishing, June 2003) [French trans. De Gaulle au-delà de la légende, Alvik, 2004] [Portugese Translation]
Living in Arcadia. Homosexuality, Politics and Morality in France from the Liberation to Aids (University of Chicago, Press 2009) 321pp. [French translation: Arcadie. La Vie homosexuelle en France de l’après guerre à la dépénalisation. Edtions Autremenr, 2009. 363 pages].
La Grande Illusion (BFI Publications, 2009). 116pp.
Ed. May 68. France’s Last Revolution (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle (2019, Allen Lane), (French, Hebrew, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Rumanian translations).
Articles and Chapters:
'The Mystery of May 68’, French Historical Studies, Vol.33 No.4 (Fall 2010), pp. 625-53.
'1971: “Les Pédés sont dans la rue!”', L’Histoire (4), (2011). pp. 22-24.
‘Churchill et la France’ in Pierre Assouline (ed.) A la Recherche de Winston Churchill (Perrin Paris 2011), pp. 137-63.
‘Rethinking May 68’ in Julian Jackson, Anna-Louise Milne and James Williams (eds.), May 68. France’s Last Revolution (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), pp.3-17.
‘Les 18 juin de Pompidou a Sarkozy’ in Les 18 juin, Philippe Oulmont (ed.) (Paris: André Versaille, 2011.
'Conclusions’ in A.Prost et al. Le Moment 1940. Effondrement national et réalités Locales (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2012), pp. 257-265.
Occupied France: The Vichy Regime, Collaboration and the Resistance’ in Zeiler, T and Dubois, D (eds.), A Companion to World War II (Blackwell-Wiley: 2013), pp. 825-40.
‘Renoir’s War’ in Vincendeau, G and Phillips, A (eds.) A Companion to Jean Renoir (Blackwell-Wiley: 2013), pp. 494-513.
'Contribution to Table Ronde' in M.Vaisse (ed.), De Gaulle et l’Algérie 1943-1969 (Colin: 2012), pp.331-341.
Introduction [3500 words] to 'L’Art en Guerre: France 1938-1947’ Catalogue for Exhibition at the Musee d’Histoire de la Ville de Paris (2013).
'The Homophile Movement’ in David Paternotte and Marion Tremblay, The Ashgate Research Companion to Lesbian and Gay Activism (Ashgate: Dorchester, 2015), pp. 31-45.
Découvrir les deux hommes’ in Fondation Charles de Gaulle/Musee de l’Armée, Churchill et de Gaulle (Paris, Editions de la Martinière, 2015), pp. 36-42.
‘La Défaite vue par le General de Gaulle’ in Gilles Vergnon et Yves Santamaria, Le Syndomre de 1940. Un Trou noir mémoriel (Rivenenevue editions, Paris, 2015), pp. 51-63.
Supervision
I welcome applications from candidates wishing to undertake doctoral research in the following areas:
- The crisis of the 1930s in France: Socialism, Popular Front, economic depression
- The German Occupation, Vichy France, Resistance
- De Gaulle and the history of Gaullism
- The ‘1968’ years
- History of Homosexuality
- Debates about memory in modern France
- French film 1930s-1960sPast PhD Students
Current PhD Students
- Francis Mikus – The road to an integrated homosexuality? A comparative historical study of civil unions and same-sex marriage in France and the United Kingdom.
- David Klemperer - French Socialism 1934-1946
Past PhD Students
- Daniel Callwood – "Trois milliards de pervers: transnational exchanges in France's 'gay liberation moment' 1968-82"
- Julius Fein – The Quai d'Orsay's attitude to Refugees from Germany, 1933-1938
- Eoghan Moran – An Entangled History of the French and Spanish Popular Fronts
- Katherine Rossy – "Solving the Postwar Puzzle: Perspectives on the Evolution of Occupation Culture and Policy in the French Zone of Occupation in Post-Nazi Germany, 1945- c. 1955"
- Nicolas Stevenson – La France Libre and El Primer Franquismo, 1942-1946'
Current PHD Students
- Daniel Callwood – "Trois milliards de pervers: transnational exchanges in France's 'gay liberation moment' 1968-82"
- Julius Fein – The Quai d'Orsay's attitude to Refugees from Germany, 1933-1938
- Eoghan Moran – An Entangled History of the French and Spanish Popular Fronts
- Katherine Rossy – "Solving the Postwar Puzzle: Perspectives on the Evolution of Occupation Culture and Policy in the French Zone of Occupation in Post-Nazi Germany, 1945- c. 1955"
- Nicolas Stevenson – La France Libre and El Primer Franquismo, 1942-1946'
Public Engagement
Appearances in the media since 2008:
- Quotidien, French Television (TMC) (5/9/2019)
- Quotidien, French Television (TMC) (18/6/20):
- Cours de l’Histoire, France Culture (11/11/20) :
- Grand Entretien, France Inter (18/6/2)
- ‘The French Enigma’ BBC Radio 4 (22 November 2011)
- Frances’ Empire: five BBC Radio 3 talks broadcast week starting 12 September 2011
- ‘Louis Renault a-t-il collboré?’ France 2 Television 2 March 2011
- ‘A la Recherche de Winston Churchill’ France Culture July 2010) [‘Le Piège du Massilia’ France 2 Television , 9 March 2011.
- 18 June 2010 I covered live from London for France 2 Television the visit of President Sarkozy to London on the anniversary of de Galle’s speech of 1940.
- ‘De Gaulle’ Archive Hour BBC Radio 4 (4 June 2010)
- ‘La Resistance’ five documentaries shown on French television (TV5 ) on 22/2/08, 29/02/08, 7/3//08, 14/3/08. This has also been released in France as DVDs.
- BBC Radio 3 on the Franco-Prussian War (28/1/08, 29/1/08, 30/1/08, 31/1/08).
Accolades
- Fellow of the British Academy
- Commandeur dans l’Ordres des Palmes Academiques
- Wolfson Prize for History
Membership of professional associations or societies
- Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
- Comité Scientifique Fondation Charles de Gaulle
- Comité des Archives Ministère de la Défense, Paris
- Conseil Sceintifique, Centre d’archives et de documentation LGBT de Paris
Editorial Positions
- Editorial Board of French History
- Editorial Board of Journal of Contemporary History
- Editor Studies in European History Palgrave/MacMillan
Book Prizes:
- American Library in Paris Book Award, 2018
- Franco-British Literary Prize, 2019
- Duff Cooper Prize non-fiction, 2019
- Elizabeth Longford Prize for Biography, 2019
- Prix Special du Jury du Livre Geopolitique, 2020