Citation Information
Article Title: France
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 14 August 2019
URL: https://www.britannica.com/place/France
Access Date: August 17, 2019
Additional Reading Geography General works
Comprehensive surveys of the country, using both descriptive and analytic approaches, include Philippe Pinchemel et al., France: A Geographical, Social, and Economic Survey (1987; originally published in French, 1964); Christopher Flockton and Eleonore Kofman, France (1989); Hilary P.M.Winchester, Contemporary France (1993); and Xavier de Planhol, An Historical Geography of France (1994; originally published in French, 1988), all with important bibliographies. Graham Robb, The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War (2007), offers an engaging examination of the emergence of a French geographic identity. Michelin Pneu, Michelin: Atlas Routier et Touristique, 7th ed. (2004), is a useful reference source with more detailed information than its title suggests. Land
Characteristics of major physical regions of France are provided in Clifford Embleton (ed.), Geomorphology of Europe (1984); and Gérard Mottet, Géographie Physique de la France, 3rd rev. and enlarged ed. (1999). Comité National Français de Géographie, Atlas de la France rurale: les campagnes françaises (1984), contains maps and photographs illustrating aspects of rural France, both by type of agriculture and by region; and André Brun et al., Le Grand Atlas de la France rurale (1989), provides documentation on all aspects of life from the point of view of agricultural geography. Ian Scargill, Urban France (1983), includes case studies of new towns. Human geography
General overviews of regional planning, demography, social structure, economic conditions, culture, and politics are found in John Ardagh, France in the New Century: Portrait of a Changing Society (2000); J.E. Flower (ed.), France Today: Introductory Studies, 8th ed. (1997); Robert Gildea, France Since 1945 (1996, updated 2002); and Emmanuel Todd, La Nouvelle France (1988, reissued 1990). Urban France is discussed in Maryse Fabriès-Verfaillie, Pierre Stragiotti, and Annie Jouve, La France des villes: le temps des métropoles, 2nd ed. (2000). Demographic analyses are provided in Daniel Noin and Yvan Chauviré, La Population de la France, 5th ed., updated (1999); Hervé Le Bras and Emmanuel Todd, L’Invention de la France: atlas anthropologique et politique (2012); and Alec G. Hargreaves, Immigration, ‘Race’ and Ethnicity in Contemporary France (1995). Economy
Comprehensive surveys of modern economic conditions include John Tuppen, The Economic Geography of France (1983); Jean-François Eck, La France dans la nouvelle économie mondiale, 3rd ed. updated (1998); Marcel Baleste, L’Économie française, 13th ed. rev. (1995); and John Tuppen, France Under Recession, 1981–1986 (1988). Additional surveys include Colin Gordon and Paul Kingston, The Business Culture in France (1996); Frances M.B. Lynch, France and the International Economy: From Vichy to the Treaty of Rome (1997); Joseph Szarka, Business in France: An Introduction to the Economic and Social Context (1992); Dominique Taddei and Benjamin Coriat, Made in France: l’industrie française dans la competition mondiale (1993); and Jean Jacques Tur, Géographie humaine et économique de la France (1994). Comprehensive regional studies can be found in Marcel Baleste et al., La France: les 22 régions, 5th ed. (2001); and Pierre Estienne, Les Régions françaises, 2 vol. (1999). Current developments are brought together in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD Economic Surveys: France (annual). Studies of special features of the French economy include Dominique Gambier and Michel Vernieres, L’Emploi en France, new ed. (1998); Nacima Baron-Yellès, Le Tourisme en France: territoires et stratégies (1999); Laurence Bancel-Charensol, Jean-Claude Delaunay, and Muriel Jougleux, Les Services dans l’economie française (1999); and Pierre Bloc-Duraffour, L’Industrie française (1999). Politics and society
Studies of political administration include Sudhir Hazareesingh, Political Traditions in Modern France (1994); Alistair Cole, French Politics and Society (1998); James F. McMillan, Twentieth-Century France: Politics and Society 1898–1991 (1992); Nick Hewlett, Modern French Politics: Analysing Conflict and Consensus Since 1945 (1998); and Maurice Larkin, France Since the Popular Front: Government and People 1936–1996, 2nd ed. (1997). Law is treated in Christian Dadomo and Susan Farran, The French Legal System, 2nd ed. (1996); and John Bell et al., Principles of French Law (1998). On the more specific question of decentralization, see Jean Marc Ohnet, Histoire de la décentralisation française (1996). Health care is discussed in Marc Duriez et al., Le Système de santé en France, 2nd updated ed. (1999). Social conditions and organizations in the social sphere are the focus of Pierre Laroque (ed.), Les Institutions sociales de la France, updated ed. (1963, reissued 1980). A general view of contemporary features of French society is given in Insee, Données sociales: la société française (1999), France, portrait social 1998–1999, 2nd ed. (1999); and H.R. Kedward, France and the French: A Modern History (2006). A detailed discussion of urban policy is provided in Antoine Anderson, Politiques de la ville (1998). Culture
The philosophical perspectives of French cultural life are examined in Alain Finkielkraut, The Defeat of the Mind (1995; also published as The Undoing of Thought, 1988; originally published in French, 1987). Cultural policies and the interaction of politics and culture are the subject of Pascal Ory, L’Histoire culturelle, 3rd ed. (2011). Bernard-Henri Lévy, Éloge des intellectuels (1987), is an introduction to intellectual life. For literature, see Denis Hollier (ed.), A New History of French Literature (1989, reissued 1994). General views of French culture and society are given in Jill Forbes and Michael Kelly (eds.), French Cultural Studies: An Introduction (1995); Max Silverman, Facing Postmodernity: Contemporary French Thought on Culture and Society, (1999); Martin Cook (ed.), French Culture Since 1945 (1993); and Alex Hughes and Keith Reader, Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture (1998, reissued 2002). Thomas Henry Elkins John N. Tuppen Jean F.P. Blondel John E. Flower History General Works