From the Publisher
The French? -Smoke, drink and eat more fat than anyone in the world, yet live longer and have fewer heart problems than Americans -Work 35-hour weeks, and take seven weeks of paid holidays per year, but are still the world''s fourth-biggest economic power So what makes the French so different? Sixty Million Frenchmen Can''t Be Wrong is a journey into the French heart, mind and soul. Decrypting French ideasabout land, privacy and language, Nadeau and Barlow weave together the threads of French society - from centralization and the Napoleonic Code to elite education and even street protests - giving us, for the first time, a complete picture of the French. "[A] readable and insightful piece of work." - Montreal Mirror "In an era of irrational reactions to all things French, here is an eminently rational answer to the question, ''Why are the French like that?''" - Library Journal "A must-read." - Edmonton Journal
About the Author
Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 1964, Jean-Benoit Nadeau holds a bachelor''s degree in political science and history from McGill University. A journalist since 1987, he has written for L''actualite, Saturday Night Magazine, National Post Business, and Quebec Science. The holder of seventeen journalism awards, he was granted a two-year fellowship in 1998 by the New Hampshire-based Institute for Current World Affairs to study why the French resist globalization. In 2001,he published a humorous travelogue, Les francais aussi ont un accent (Payon, Paris). He has also traveled in Mexico, the UK, New Zealand, and Algeria. Born in Ancaster, Ontario, in 1968, Julie Barlow holds an honour''s degree in political science from McGill University and a master''s in English Literature from Concordia University. Over the last decade, she has written for Saturday NIght Magazine, Report on Business Magazine, L''actualite, and other Canadian magazines. In 1998, she worked as Editor-in-Chief of English-language projects at Montreal-based publisher Ma Carriere. In 2003, she published Same Words, Different Language (Piatkus, London) with international gender expert Barbara Annis. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe, North Africa, Israel, Turkey, the Caucasus, Mexico, the UK, and New Zealand.
About the Book
The French...
-Smoke, drink and eat more fat than anyone in the world, yet live
longer and have fewer heart problems than Americans
-Work 35-hour weeks, and take seven weeks of paid holidays per
year, but are still the world's fourth-biggest economic power
So what makes the French so different?
Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong is a journey into the French
heart, mind and soul. Decrypting French ideas about land, privacy
and language, Nadeau and Barlow weave together the threads of
French society--from centralization and the Napoleonic Code to
elite education and even street protests--giving us, for the first
time, a complete picture of the French.
"[A] readable and insightful piece of work." --Montreal Mirror
"In an era of irrational reactions to all things French, here is an
eminently rational answer to the question, 'Why are the French like
that?'" --Library Journal
"A must-read." --Edmonton Journal
