The Agony of France
The Agony of France is written in three parts in a thematic style to enable easy referencing both for the student of history and the general reader. The first part deals with the Defeat of France in 1940, examining scholarship over the last seventy years in order to extrapolate the major factors.
The second part explores Vichy France, the political Collaboration, and the various shades of collaborationism from the criminal and dedicated to that of sheer survival. This part looks at the problems of a modern Western democratic society suffering under a military occupation, the role of the French Church during this period, and the appalling circumstances surrounding anti-Semitism.
The third part explores the nature of French resistance, the role of de Gaulle, and finishes with the postwar recriminations and trials. Unlike many Anglo-Saxon histories, this book adopts a more sympathetic attitude towards the French plight, and examines the nature of de Gaulle’s myth-building that France liberated itself. The book demonstrates that historical mythology is part of every country’s history when seeking its own redemption from the past. It will be of use to the student of history, as well as a wider readership interested in the circumstances surrounding Vichy rule in France.
The Revd Dr Andrew Sangster is the author of several history books including Pathway to Establishment, a history of education in New Zealand; Diary of a Parish Priest, a history of England since 1184 written from the point of view of the Church; Field Marshal Kesselring, a reappraisal of this famous German commander; From Nazi Thug to British Mayor, a true account of a German who was half-Jewish, survived in the Luftwaffe and rose to prominence in postwar England; and Two and a Half Deserters which studies the events leading up to desertion in the Italian campaign through the eyes of three nationalities. Of this last book Sir Michael Howard wrote “I have seldom read anything that deals so well with the ‘underside of war.’” Sangster has also written other books of a humorous nature, and one on the skill of debating. Although ordained as a priest, he has spent half his working life in education at secondary and tertiary level, and he has a doctorate in Modern European History, as well as degrees in Law, Theology, English and History.
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