The French Mind

‘Majestic, ambitious’ Literary Review

We are endlessly fascinated by the French. We are fascinated by their way of life, their creativity, sophistication, and self-assurance, and even their insistence that they are exceptional. But how did France become the country it is today, and what really sets it apart?

Journalist and historian Peter Watson sets out to answer these questions in The French Mind, a dazzling history of France that takes us from the seventeenth century to the present day through the nation’s most influential thinkers. He opens the doors to the Renaissance salons that were a breeding ground for poets, philosophers, and scientists, and tells the forgotten stories of the extraordinary succession of women who ran these institutions, fostering a culture of stylish intellectualism unmatched anywhere else in the world.

It’s a story that takes us into Bohemian cafes and cabarets, into chic Parisian high culture via French philosophies of food, fashion, and sex, while growing unrest hastens the bloody birth of a republic. From the 1789 revolution to the country’s occupation by Nazi Germany, Watson argues that a unique series of devastating military defeats helped shape the resilient, proud, innovative character of the French.

This is a history of breathtaking ambition, propelled by the characters Watson brings to vivid life: the writers, revolutionaries, and painters who loved, inspired, and rivalled one another over four hundred years. It documents the shaping of a nation whose global influence, in art, culture, and politics, cannot be overstated.

‘An encyclopaedic celebration of French intellectuals refusing to give up on universal principles, rooted in the Enlightenment and French Revolution, while remaining slim, bringing up well-behaved children and falling in love at every opportunity’ The Times

'An engaging movement through time towards France’s recent reckonings with extremism, exceptionalism and empire’ TLS