'HIS GREAT STRENGTH IS TO CAST HIS NET BEYOND POLITICS AND TO EXPLORE THE TISSUE OF FRENCH SOCIETY ... FRANCE REMAINS THE MOST FASCINATING COUNTRY IN EUROPE, WITH ARDAGH AS ITS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE BOSWELL' IONATHAN FENBY, THE TIMES

Authoritative, thorough and hugely informative, France in the New Century is an intelligent account of the life of an influential and stimulating (if sometimes exasperating) nation. In examining the entire country, from cultured and stressful Paris through to the turbulent high-rise suburbs and the increasingly independent provinces, John Ardagh has, with the benefit of in-depth fieldwork and decades of familiarity with French life, produced a balanced and vivid account of the political, economic and cultural state of the nation, and what its future may bring.

Dealing with topics as diverse as the policies of Prime Ministers Juppe and lospin, the rise and present crisis of Le Pen's Front National, the triumph of the multiracial French World Cup football team, the euro, Euro Disney. and Eurotunnel, and the changes afoot at Club Med (and much more besides), this book, .which draws on material from John Ardagh's best-selling France Today, is an indispensable guide to a complicated country.

 Preface

1 INTRODUCTION

2 PARADOXES OF THE ECONOMIC 'MIRACLE'

3 SOCIAL PROGRESS, BUT SCARES ABOUT WELFARE, JOBS,

RACISM

4  THE REGIONS  AGAINST  PARIS: RENEWAL  AND  REFORM

5 A BOOMING MODERN AGRICULTURE -- BUT CAN THE

SMALL FARMER SURVIVE?

6  CULTURE  AND  INTELLECTUALS:  VIGOROUS  PERFORMING

ARTS -- BUT WHERE IS THE NEW CREATIVITY?

7  EDUCATIONAL REFORM: EQUALITY VERSUS ELITISM

8 PRIVATE AND LEISURE LIFE; NEW FREEDOMS. NEW

HEDONISM

9 FRANCE, EUROPE AND THE WORLD

CONCLUSION: La morosite and beyond

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Index