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Jan 2, 2025 | 
unherd.com | Julian Jackson
Andre GideAutobiographyCulturediverse In the May of 1921, André Gide spent a long evening with Marcel Proust. Much of the conversation revolved around homosexuality, with the older writer showing Proust some pages of an autobiography he was writing. “You can say anything you want,” Proust exclaimed, “as long as you never say ‘I’”. Yet as Gide later noted in his journal, that wasn’t his view at all.
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Dec 18, 2024 | 
lrb.co.uk | Julian Jackson |Neal Ascherson
The old man told my French nephew that he had something special to show him. Something he had thought best to keep in a drawer since 1943. In that village, families at Christmas decorate their crib with santons – figurines of the Holy Family, the three kings, the shepherds, an angel. But the old man was holding out an extra santon. It was a tiny statuette of Marshal Pétain. He is leaning on a stick, wearing his immaculate marshal’s uniform with the Verdun medal.
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Sep 27, 2024 | 
fivebooks.com | Julian Jackson |Halik Kochanski |Tania Branigan |Beverly Gage
France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain 🏆 Winner of the 2024 Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize for nonfiction Read expert recommendations “Pétain had been the hero of Verdun, a great figure, but he was being tried for treason for signing the armistice with the Nazi regime and being the leader of the Vichy regime in France. He was on trial for his life, accused of collusion with Nazi Germany, and the verdict wasn’t much in doubt. It’s about more than the fate of a particular person—it’s a...
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Jul 4, 2024 | 
ft.com | Julian Jackson
The writer’s most recent book is ‘France on Trial: the case of Marshal Pétain’ Ten days ago, I attended a colloquium in memory of Jean...
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Jun 29, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Julian Jackson
France is still in shock after President Macron unexpectedly dissolved parliament and called a general election. People were torn between stupor and anger, incredulity and panic. Macron’s decision followed the European elections where the hard-right National Rally topped the polls with 31.4 per cent of the vote, and Macron’s party, on 14.6 per cent, was almost pushed into third place.
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Jun 19, 2024 | 
cointelegraph.com | Jillian Godsil |Julian Jackson |Elias Ahonen |Ciaran Lyons
Conor Daly’s name is synonymous with speed. A legacy of agility and adrenaline courses through his veins, inherited from his father, the legendary Irish Formula One driver Derek Daly. He’s also become part of the Polkadot family, so members of the community and staff from its developers, Parity Technologies, headed down to the 108th Indy 500 event on May 26 to watch him race. Daly surged from his 29th-place start out of 33 cars to the front of the pack and remarkably led for 22 laps.
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Feb 22, 2024 | 
fivebooks.com | Julian Jackson |Jackie Wullschlager |Christopher Clark
To start with, tell me a bit about this prize, set up in 1956 in honour of the British diplomat and author Duff Cooper, I believe. It’s looking for the best nonfiction books of the year, is that right? It’s a very long-established prize and has had an extraordinary list of winners over the years. We wanted our winners to last, and they have done. That’s what we have in mind. We’re looking for nonfiction books. I suppose that they would count as very literary nonfiction books.
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Sep 29, 2023 | 
compactmag.com | Julian Jackson
France on Trial: The Case of Marshal PétainBy Julian JacksonBelknap, 480 pages, $35If any of us thought we could do our fellow creatures good by committing or, more probably, condoning an evil act, would we do so? Would we even recognize the moment when it happened, or accept that it was evil? Most of us are wonderfully good at persuading ourselves that our actions are pure. Does treason actually exist or, as Talleyrand quipped, is it just a matter of dates?
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Sep 19, 2023 | 
engelsbergideas.com | Julian Jackson
In his recent book on leadership distinguishes between two ideal types of leaders: statesmen and prophets. Statesmen ‘temper vision with wariness, entertaining a sense of limits’; prophets invoke a transcendent vision of the world to ‘redefine what appears to be possible’. What light do these distinctions throw on the leadership of Charles de Gaulle?
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Aug 29, 2023 | 
theepochtimes.com | Julian Jackson
Book ReviewA brilliant history that also poses complicated, important questions BY TIMEAugust 29, 2023 PRINT It was more complicated than that. That phrase is often repeated in Julian Jackson’s new book, “France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain,” and it is indicative of the subject.
