Bibliography on France and the French

Following are some books listed under the categories of :

 We also include some less well-known works including :

 This is not an academic bibliography and we mention only the books we have on our own shelves.

Funny books...

  • Betsy DRAINE & Michael HINDEN A Castle in the Backyard - The Dream of a House in France, Wisconsin Univ.Press, 2002 ("Charming, well-written and droll", writes Harriet in her endorsement)
  • Guillemette FAURE, La France - petit manuel pour décrypter les idées américaines toutes faites sur le Français, Jacob-Duvernet, 2005
  • Peter MAYLE, A year in Provence, Pan, 1989
  • Christine KERDELLANT, Les Chroniques de l'Ingénieur Norton, Belfond, Paris, 1997
  • Colin CORDER, Some of my Best Friends are French, Shelf Pub. Hitchin UK, 1992
  • Michael SADLER, Un Anglais à Paris - L'éducation continentale, L'Archipel, Paris, 2000 (An Englishman in Paris, Simon & Schuster, 2002)
  • Ted STANGER, Sacrés Français ! Un Américain vous regarde, Michalon, 2003 (Newsweek bureau chief in Paris, published his book in French)

Et surtout (and above all) ! (For more information, please visit Harriet's website)

  

Academic and literary books...

  •  Richard BERNSTEIN, Fragile Glory - A Portrait of France and the French, Plume, New York, 1990
  • Mary BLUME, A French Affair - The Paris Beat 1965-1998, The Free Press, NY, 1999
  • Ina CARO, The Road from the Past - Traveling through History in France, A Harvest Book, 1994
  • Raymonde CARROLL, Cultural Misunderstandings - The French-American Experience, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1987
  • Charles COGAN, French Negociating Behavior, Dealing with La Grande Nation, US Inst.of Peace, 2003 (by a former high ranking CIA official)
  • James CORBETT, Through French Windows - An Introduction to France in the Nineties , Michigan University Press, Ann Arbor, 1994
  • Charles DICKENS, Dickens in France, Selected pieces by Charles Dickens on France and the French, In Print Publishing Ltd., Brighton, 1996
  • Dominique FRISCHER, La France vue d'en face - L'image de la France analysée et jugée par des étrangers, Robert Laffont, Paris, 1990
  • Adam GOPNIK, Paris to the Moon, New York, Random House, 2000
  • Pater GUMBEL, French Vertigo, Grasset, 2006
  • Sanche DE GRAMONT, The French - Portrait of a People, Putnam's Sons, New York, 1969
  • J. Gerald KENNEDY, Imagining Paris, Exile, Writing, and American Identity, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 1993
  • Barrie KERPER, Paris - The Collected Traveler - An Inspired Anthology & Travel Resource, Three River Press, New York, 2000
  • Henry JAMES, A Little Tour in France, Penguin Travel Library, London, 1983
  • Jacques MARSEILLE, Du bon usage de la guerre civile en France, Parrin, 2006
  • Alain PEYREFITTE, Le Mal Français, Plon, 1976 (brilliant and very wise)
  • Philippe ROGER, The American Ennemy : The History of French Anti-Americanism, Univ.Chicago Press, 2006 (the best book on anti-Americanism in France)
  • Edith WHARTON, French Ways and Their Meaning, republished by Berkshire House, 1997, Massachusetts
  • Lawrence WYLIE, Village in the Vaucluse, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1974
  • Theodore ZELDIN, France 1848-1945 Intellect and Pride , Oxford University Press, 1980
  • More to come...

 and also....

  • Ann BARRY, At Home in France, Tales of an American and Her Home Abroad, Ballantine Books, New York 1997
  • Guillaume de BERTIER de SAUVIGNY, La France et les Français vus par les voyageurs Américains 1814-1848, Flammarion, Paris, 1982
  • Denise BOMBARDIER, Lettre ouverte aux Français qui se croient le nombril du monde, Albin Michel, 2000, funny, by a stimulating polemist from Quebec
  • Gaston BONHEUR, Qui a cassé le vase de Soissons ? l'album de famille de tous les Français, Robert Laffont, 1963
  • Eric BRUNET, Etre riche, un tabou français, Albin Michel, 2007
  • Jean-Marie COLOMBANI & Walter WELLS, Dangerous De-liaisons - What's Really Behind the War Between France and the U.S., Melville House, 2004
  • Pierre DANINOS, Les carnets du Major Thompson, Hachette, Paris, 1954
  • Laura Dee DOWNS & Stephane GERSON, Why France ? American Historians Reflect on an Enduring Fascination, Cornell University Press, 2007
  • Leon-Paul FARGUE, Le Piéton de Paris, Gallimard, 1939
  • Jonathan FENBY, France on the Brink - A Great Civilization Faces the New Century, Arcade, New York, 2000
  • Thomas FRIEDMAN, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Random House, 2000, brilliant, with harsh and often well-grounded criticism of the French (too bad he mentioned Enron as an example of what the French should imitate....)
  • Stanley HOFFMANN, Sur la France, Seuil, 1976
  • Diane JOHNSON, Le Divorce, Plume, 1998
  • Richard KUISEL, Seducing the French - the Dilemma of Americanization, Univ.of California Press, 1993
  • Edith KUNZ, Fatale-How French Women Do It, Bridgewood Press, 2001
  • Susan Herrmann LOOMIS, On Rue Tatin, Broadway Books, New York, 2001
  • Salvador de MADARIAGA, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Oxford Univ. Press, 1929
  • Jacques MARSEILLE, La guerre des deux France, Perrin, 2005
  • Peter MAYLE, French Lessons, Alfred Kopf, New York, 2001
  • Jean MERAL, Paris dans la littérature américaine, CNRS, Paris, 1983
  • Michel PINCON & Monique PINCON-CHARLOT, Paris Mosaïque, Calmann-Lévy, 2001
  • Polly PLATT, French or Foe , Culture Crossings, London, 1994 ; an excellent book on France and the French, meet Polly Platt on her site !
  • Mort ROSENBLUM, Mission to Civilize - The French Way, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Orlando, 1986
  • John TAYLOR, Paths to Contemporary French Literature (2 vol.), Piscataway NJ (Rutgers), Transaction Publishers, 2006
  • Ronald TIERSKY, France and the New Europe - Changing Yet Steadfast, Wadsworth Pub., 1994
  • More to come...

Useful books...

  •  AAWE, Living in France, AAWE, Paris, 1993 (AAWE is an active association of Americans in Paris)
  • AAWE, Bilingualism and Franco-American Children, Paris, 1980
  • AAWE, Vital Issues - How to Survive Officialdom While Living in France : Marriage, Job-Hunting, Real Estate, Divorce, Senior Citizens, Retirement, Wills and Inheritance, 2000 : A mine of indispensable information
  • Maribeth CLEMENTE, The Riches of France - A Shopping and Touring Guide to the French Provinces, St.Martin's, New York, 1997
  • Suzy GERSHMAN, Born to Shop- Paris, Frommer's, IDG Books, Foster City CA, 2000
  • Michael JOHNSON, French Resistance-Individuals versus the Company in French Corporate Life, Cassell, London,1996
  • Rachel KAPLAN, Little known Museums in and around Paris, Harry N.Abrams Publ., New York, 1996
  • Polly PLATT, Savoir Flair - 211 Tips for enjoying France and the French, Culture Crossings, London, 2000
  • Maribeth RICOUR DE BOURGIES, The Chic Shopper's Guide to Paris - The City's Top Consultant Shows Where Parisians Go For Fashion, Antiques, Accessories and More, St.Martin's, New York, 1991
  • Louis-Bernard ROBITAILLE, And God Created The French, Robert Davis Publ., Montreal, 1997
  • Thirza VALLOIS, Around and About Paris (3 vol.), Iliad Books, London, 1995-1997
  • More to come..

 and also...

  • Gilles ASSELIN & Ruth MASTRON, Au contraire !- Figuring Out the French, Intercultural Press Inc., Yarmouth, 2001
  • Frances GENDLIN, Culture Shock : Paris at Your Door, Graphic Art Center Pub., Portland OR, 1999
  • Andrew JACK, The French Exception - France : Still so Special ?, Profile, London, 1998
  • Gretchen JANSSEN, Women Overseas, Intercultural, 1989
  • Robert L.KOHLS, Survival Kit for Overseas Living - For Americans Planning to Live and Work Abroad, Intercultural Press, 1984
  • Cheryl McLACHLAN, Bringing France Home- Creating the Feeling of France in your Home, Room by Room, Clarkson Potter, New York, 1995
  • Jean Benoit NADEAU & Julie BARLOW , Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong, Sourcebooks, Naperville Il. 2003
  • Ross STEELE, The French Way, Aspects of Behavior, Attitudes, and Customs of the French, Passport Books, 1995
  • Sally Adamson TAYLOR, Culture Shock - a Guide to Customs and Etiquette : France, Times Books International, Singapore, 1994
  • Barry TOMALIN, France - A Qick Guide to Customs & Etiquette, Kuperard, 2003
  • Gabrielle VARRO, La femme transplantée, une étude du mariage franco-américain en France et le bilinguisme des enfants, Presses Universitaires de Lille, 1984
  • More to come....

Guide books and how-to books ...

  • Le petit LEBEY 2000 des bistrots parisiens, Robert Laffont, Paris : a well-informed list of reasonably-priced real Parisian bistros
  • Le Guide du Routard 2000- Paris : a VERY useful guide book for people with a lot of curiosity and little money
  • Geneviève BRAME, Chez vous en France - Living & Working in France, Kogan, 2001
  • Alan HART, Living and Working in France, How To Books, 1998
  • Daniel & Alice JOUVE, Alvin GROSSMAN, Paris : Birthplace of the U.S.A., Gründ, Paris, 1995 : all the places great American historical figures lived in Paris
  • John LELAND, A Guide to Hemingway's Paris - With Walking Tours, Algonquin Books, 1989
  • Ian LITTLEWOOD, Paris - A Literary Companion, Harper & Row, New York, 1989
  • Nicolle Aimée MEYER & Amanda Pilar SMITH, Paris in a Basket - Markets - The Food and the People, Köneman, Köln, 2000
  • Brian MORTON, Americans in Paris- An Anecdotal Street Guide, The Olivia & Hill Press, Ann Arbor, 1984
  • James O'REILLY, Traveler's Tales : France, Traveler's Tales, Inc., San Francisco, 1995
  • Anne et Alain RIOU, Paris Pas Cher 2001, Seuil, Paris
  • Thirza VALLOIS, Around and About Paris - How to See the Real Paris on Foot, Iliad Books, 1995 (3 volumes)
  • And more titles to come...

 and also...

  • Priscilla BAIN SMITH, Van Gogh Walks ... Paris, Elpub bv, The Netherlands, 2003 (see review)
  • Judi CULBERTSON and Tom RANDALL, Permanent Parisians, Chelsea Green Publishing Co, Chelsea VT, 1986: all the details on and anecdotes about the most interesting cemeteries in Paris with instructions for visiting them
  • The Taste of France, Stewart, Tabori & Chang New York, 1998, beautiful pictures by Robert FRESON with a lively well-informed text on the food found in various regions of France
  • Susan SOMMERS, French Chic - How to Dress Like a French Woman, Arlington Books, London,1988
  • Marc TARDIEU, Les Auvergnats de Paris, Ed.du Rocher, 2001
  • Since 1994, Parigramme Edition has published more than 100 books ; among them "Avoir un chat à Paris (Having a cat in Paris)", "Où s'embrasser à Paris (Where to kiss in Paris)" and "Histoire des rues de Paris : Guide du Promeneur"
  • ZAGAT Survey 2000, Paris Restaurants, New York
  • More to come...

Memoirs and tales of life in Paris or in France...

  • Art BUCHWALD, I'll Always Have Paris!, Putnam's, 1996
  • David DOWNIE, Paris, Paris - Journey into the City of Light (photographs by Alison HARRIS, foreword by Diane JOHNSON), Transatlantic Press, 2005
  • MFK FISHER, Long Ago in France, Simon & Shuster, 1991
  • Janet FLANNER-GENET, Paris Journal 1944-1971, Shawn 1977
  • Janet FLANNER-GENET, Paris Was Yesterday 1925-1939, Penguin, 1981
  • Mavis GALLANT, Paris Notebooks, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, London, 1989
  • (Edited by) Adam GOPNIK, Americans in Paris - A Literary Anthology, The Library of America, 2004
  • Ernest HEMINGWAY, A Movable Feast, Penguin, 1975
  • Ernest HEMINGWAY, The Sun also Rises, Penguin, 1975
  • Henry JAMES, A Little Tour in France, Penguin, 1983
  • Stanley KARNOW, Paris in the Fifties, Random House, NY, 1997
  • Henry MILLER, Quiet Days in Clichy, Grove, 1987
  • Maggi NOLAN, Champagne ... and Real Pain - a Paris Memoir - Celebrities in Paris in the Fifties, Mosaic Press, Oakville 1998
  • George ORWELL, Down and out in Paris and London, Penguin, 1973
  • Irvin SHAW & Ronald SEARLE, Paris! Paris!, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1977
  • Mark TWAIN, The Innocents Abroad, Collins, 1920
  • Edith WHARTON, French Ways and their Meaning, Berkshire House, 1997
  • More later...

 and also...

  • Sylvia BEACH, Shakespeare & Company, Un. of Nebraska Press, 1956
  • Jean-François CHAIX, Loin du Midwest, pôrtraits d'Améroicains en France, Auibert, 2007
  • Stephen CLARKE, A Year in the Merde, Black Swan, 2005
  • Charles DICKENS, Selected Pieces on France and the French, InPrint, 1996
  • Heidi FULLER-LOVE, Crossing the Loire, 2004 (a wicked, witty - and sometimes worrying - account of moving to Charente, in the heart of rural France)
  • Stephen LONGSTREET, We All Went to Paris - Americans in the City of Light 1776-1971, McMillan, New York, 1972
  • Curzio MALAPARTE, Journal d'un étranger à Paris, Denoel, Paris, 1967
  • Phyllis MICHAUX, The Unknown Ambassadors, Aletheia, 1996
  • Bernard REDMONT, Risks Worth Taking - The Odissey of a Foreign Correspondent, Univ.Press of America, 1992
  • William L.SHIRER, 20th Century Journey, A Memoir of a Life and the Times, (Vol 1 1904-1930), Bantam Books 1976
  • Waverley ROOT, The Paris Edition 1927-1934 North Point Press 1987
  • Ted STANGER, Sacrés Français - un Américain nous regarde, Michalon, 2003 (former Newsweek bureau chief, published in French)
  • More to come...

 

America as seen by the French...

  • Michel CROZIER, Le Mal Américain, Fayard, 1980
  • Jean-Baptiste DUROSELLE, La France et les Etats Unis - des origines à nos jours, Le Seuil, 1976
  • Christine FAURE & Tom BISHOP, L'Amérique des Français, Françoise Bourin, 1992
  • Guillemette FAURE, La France made in USA, Jacob-Duvernet, 2005
  • Jean Claude GUILLEBAUD, Cabu en Amérique, Seuil, 1990
  • Jules HURET, L'Amérique Moderne, Lafitte, 1911 (2 vol.)
  • André KASPI, Les Etats-Unis d'aujourd'hui - Mal connus, mal aimés, mal compris, Plon, Paris, 1999
  • André MAUROIS, En Amérique, Flammarion, 1933
  • Paul MORAND, New York, Flammarion, 1930
  • Jacques PORTES, Une fascination réticente - les Etats Unis dans l'opinion française 1870-1914, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1990
  • Philippe ROGER, L'ennemi Américain - Génalogie de l'ant-américanisme, Seuil 2002 (the best French book on the subject)
  • (of course) Alexis de TOCQUEVILLE, De la Démocratie en Amérique, MacMillan, 1961
  • Fanny TROLLOPE, Domestic Manners of the Americans, Sutton, 1984 (although the author was English, when it was published, in the 1840s, this book had a strong impact in France : see more)
  • More to come...

 and also...

  • Jean BAUDRILLARD, Amérique, Grasset, Paris, 1986 
  • Simone de BEAUVOIR, L'Amérique au jour le jour, Morihien, 1948
  • Louis DUVERGIER DE HAURANNE, A Frenchman in Lincoln's America, Lakeside Pr., 1975
  • Durand ECHEVERRIA, Mirage in the West - a History of the French Image of American Society to 1815, Princeton PUP, 1957
  • André KASPI et al., La civilisation américaine, PUF, 2004
  • Leo SAUVAGE, Les Américains, Marabout, 1983
  • Ted STANGER, Sacrés Américains - Nous, les Yankees, on est comme ça, Ed.Michalon, 2004 (a interesting view of the USA by a former Nesweek bureau chief in Paris, written in French)
  • A short bibliography on Franco-American relations
  • More later...

French books (with sometimes a critical view of the U.S....)

  • Pascal BAUDRY, Français et Américains - L'autre rive, Ed.Village Mondial, 2003
  • Edward BEHR, Une Amérique qui fait peur, Plon, 1995
  • Michel CROZIER, Le Mal Américain, Fayard, 1980
  • Pascal DUPONT, La bannière étiolée, Seuil, 1993
  • Geneviève & Philippe JOUTARD, De la francophilie en Amérique - Ces Américains qui aiment la France, Actes Sud, 2006
  • Philippe LABARDE et Bernard MARIS, Ah Dieu! que la guerre économique est jolie!, Albin Michel, 1998
  • Philippe ROGER, L'ennemi américain, Le Seuil, 2002 (the best book on anto-Americanism)
  • Jean-Jacques SERVAN-SCHREIBER, Le défi américain, Denoel, 1967
  • Emmanuel TODD, Après l'empire - essai sur la décomposition du système américain, Gallimard, 2002
  • Books on anti-Americanism
  • More to come...

 and also...

  • Gérard BAUDSON, La planète de l'Oncle Sam, JC.Lattès, 2000
  • Pierre BIARNES, Le XXIème Siècle ne sera pas américain, Ed.du Rocher, 1988
  • Karim BITAR et al., Regards sur la France : trente soécialistes internationaux dressent le bilan de santé de l'Héxagone, Paris, Seuil, 2007 (quite interesting)
  • Eric DIOR, Un couple infernal - 200 ans de francophobie et d'antiaméricanisme, Perrin, 2003
  • Philippe ROMON, Putain d'Amérique, Flammarion, 1988
  • Ziauddin SADDAR & Merryl WYN DAVIES, Why Do People Hate America, Icon Books Ltd, Cambridge, 2002 (very mediocre)
  • More later...

Anti-French American books

There are far more anti-French books (and website) in America than anti-American books and sites in France. Their tonality is often suprisingly full of hate. Here are some of them :

  • Arthur BLOOM, Tales of an American Emigré in Paris, Editions des Ecrivains, 2000 (he does not like the French, does not understand why his American wife does, and they both live in Paris...)
  • Richard Z.CHESNOFF, The Arrogance of the French - Why They Can't Stand Us and Why the Feeling is Mutual, Sentinel, 2005 (a former correspondent of U.S.News, he obviously hates France and the French : he retired in France and lives in Provence. A masochist ? See a few examples of wrong facts and biases)
  • Kenneth R.TIMMERMAN, The French Betrayal of America, Crown Forum, 2004
  • Harlow Giles UNGER, The French War Against America - How a Trusted Ally Betrayed Washington and the Founding Fathers, Wiley, 2005 (stating the obvious, he discovered that the King of France supported the American Revolution not because he wanted to help create a Republic but because he wanted to weaken England ! a ridiculously and passionately anti-French book but sometimes interesting, )
  • More to come

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Harriet Welty Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French. Order her books :

  • "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999
  • "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001

More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..)

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