60 Million Frenchman is split into three sections (1) French history (why certain events helped make the French the way they are). (2) French system (detailed analysis of almost every aspect of current--as of 2000--French life). (3) Projections for the future.I liked part one a lot. I think the chapters on the Algerian War and World War Two were particularly apt in explaining how the French mindset has been shaped in recent decades. Part two was good in spots, and reeeeally boring in spots. For

So far, the book is proving to offer interesting insight in the mind of the north americans, not the french. I know the french. We're neighbours. I go there often. A couple of my best friends are french. France makes sense to me. The french make sense to me. The book, therefore, is for me an experience in reverse psychology - undestanding the mindset the authors come from that makes them write the way they do about the french. The things that surprise them or that they deem worthy of writing abo...

As indicated by the title, this 2003 study, written by Canandians Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow, attempts to explain why French and American people like to disparage each other and how we Americans especially tend to be irrationally prejudiced against the French. David Lettermen is still making jokes about the French giving into the Nazis in 1940, and Groundskeeper Willie on The Simpsons has our young people calling the French "cheese-eating surrender monkeys." We seem to forget that the F...

I'll start with the good points :The authors have really tried to understand how we French function as a society, and to find explanations for it in our (very bloody) history. They did get a few very clever insights, and made me smile a few times in self deprecation.Now the bad points : the book is presented as a pseudo scientific study. Unfortunately, the scientific demarch is hopelessly flawed.Once the authors got a working theory, they twisted all their "evidence" to fit the pattern, disregar...

True story: I love France. And sometimes really can't stand the French. Thankfully, the authors of this book kinda feel the same way. This book is a wonderful dissection of why the French are who they are and why we love them and are confused by them on a regular basis. The authors have done an excellent job of getting at the heart of what makes French government, culture and economics tick and really pinpoints the differences between France and other countries. I would have liked more compariso...

I read this as part of a trilogy I've tackled by expatriate observers who have lived in France. The others are "A Year in the Merde" and "A Year in Provence." It's really just an exercise in self-discipline. Having been in France for over a year now, I hear myself being critical from merely anecdotal evidence, and I don't like it. So I decided I should see how other observers have found France and see in my observations match up. So far, I've only completed this volume. I found it useful and int...

Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong often times feels like a Francenstein’s (spelling deliberate) monster. It begins well enough, offering insight into the “spirit” of French society, and indeed gives highly valuable information, especially regarding the French ideas of personal vs. public space, which every visitor should know. However, as the reader nears the middle of the book the work takes on a text-book quality, which becomes dry and redundant. To boost, what the writers pass as an anth...

This book is a detailed study of the French as products of their history and culture. Although claiming not to be a history book, it uses French history to explain how the French spirit developed, and how it influences the civil, political, and social structure in France today. As the authors, two bilingual Canadian journalists, claim in their introduction, it is not a story of the renovation of a house in Provence; it does, however, contain the story of their two years in France and what they e...

First of all I'm indebted to this book for introducing me to Marcel Aymé who I probably would not have discovered otherwise. I loved Le passe-muraille (The Man Who Walked Through Walls in the English translation), a book of fantastical short stories set in or inspired by life in occupied France.This book however is not great. It starts strong but eventually becomes more like a textbook. The personal anecdotes and biographical sketches are great; numbing detail about things like the civil code le...

Definitely not light reading -- this isn't a trivial book, despite the humorous title and cover.Felt like I was back in one of my International Relations classes, probably upper division if not graduate. Very informative, and worth reading -- especially for anyone planning on spending time in France.

This book takes a look at French culture through the lens of politics. The values that people hold in France are highlighted through the way that they organize themselves politically. The authors include historical examples and personal anecdotes to back up their ideas. If you're looking to learn about the political system used in France, this goes into detail on that.

France stymies Americans. They eat what they want, but seemingly don't get fat. Their government is happily involved in health, education, industry, and business, but they have one of the most robust economies in the world. How do they do it? What makes them tick? Jean-Benoît Nadreau and Julie Barlow were dispatched by a government foundation to find out just that very thing. Having lived in France for several years and made a study of it, they represent their findings in the fascinating Sixty M...

Although this book was written over a decade ago, it is a great study of the French people that is still relevant today. It is an anthropological assessment and takes a broad stance in how it assesses France. The authors are a Canadian couple so many of the ideas and comparisons are taken from a North American standpoint. A two year study of the French yields many quaint anecdotes as to how and why the French are as they are. In my own experience of France, the French, French language, culture a...

I was hoping I had found a book that was an in depth look at the culture and traditions of the French. This was more of a look at the government and political structures of France. Parts were so boring, I actually wound up just skimming the last bit of the book for something interesting to read.

This book was so poorly written and had so many grammatical errors that I couldn't read it.

I read this book to gain a baseline understanding of the French. By reading this book I found some characteristics of the culture that charmed. Why does a democracy--such as US, particularly US--have to dumb everything down to the lowest denominator. Bestsellers are written at an increasingly lower educational level. Popular culture becomes more and brutal with a great amount of disrespect and brutality. Instead in France, the French insist and largely succeed in democratizing culture by bringin...

very good book regarding french society, culture, and history. first 2/3 of book is v interesting, latter half talks about economic policy and nonprofits which isn’t as interesting. would recommend if you want to learn more about what makes the french so inherently french!

I can't recommend this highly enough. Smartly written insights on modern France but from a deep historical perspective. It's really really good!

While the book has given me a copious amount of topics to discuss with my friends in France there are many down sides to this book. Many interesting historical facts and it is a straight forward clearly written book but, yes here is the but ... as someone who moved from Canada and is well traveled around Europe the book was written without taking the rest of Europe into account.There are many things stated which the authors tried to pass off as specifically 'French' when in actual fact these are...

Canadian authors Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow lived in France from 1999 to 2001 on a fellowship to study why the French resist globalization. The result is “60 Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong,” which expands upon the initial assignment and attempts to explain how and why the French are different from Americans and other nationalities. They also describe how the French are evolving in what the authors portray as mostly positive ways. I like to use my kindle to highlight remarkable insight...

This book started off really engaging but the middle section is a right slog to get through. Incidentally the end section seems to be one long conclusion rather than adding much else.A good book but could have done with being 100 pages shorter.

This was a fascinating book about France and the people of France. It’s a little like Ruth Benedict’s book about Japan – an attempt to understand the people and its culture. But these are reporters (from Quebec), not anthropologists. And they got to live there for a few years. They divide the book into three sections. The first part focuses on some key cultural traits and distinctive features of the French. This is the best part of the book. The authors argue we should like at the French as the

I lived in France for five months in 2012, and right after, I found this book to put on my shelf for a "sometime-soon-read." Well, eight years later, I am reading what turns out to be a book so insightful and well-documented that it should be required reading for everyone who would like to ENJOY the French.For example, unlike the USA, the French never really had "First People" other than "The early French." Another chapter explained why the French set a large store by "the land in France" from w...

When I first saw how thick and dense the book was, I thought it would take me a few weeks to read it but I was instantly captivated and actually finished it in just a few days! The book is surprisingly entertaining, considering it's a compendium of history, geography, politics, ethnology, etc...The book offers a very acute and insightful analysis of France, the French and the way our country works. I learned quite a few things and actually had a few "aha!" moments when I thought "why did I never...

"Imagine a country where people work 35-hour weeks, take seven weeks of paid holiday per year, take an hour and a half for lunch, have the longest life expectancy in the world, and eat the richest food on the planet....You are now in France... Now imagine a country..Where people expect the State to do everything because they pay so much in taxes. Where service is rude ...You are still in France. "If France was a stock, I'd sell it " wrote New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman in his book on g...

a lucid breakdown of the French and their society. i've just moved to France so i hope the information will turn out to be accurate and useful - so far, one Frenchman told my partner 'everything in the book is true!' and two others told me, with respect to the authors' (why isn't Julie Barlow credited as co-author in the GoodReads entry?) discussion of the French love of privacy, that it's actually perfectly okay to ask a new acquaintance what their name is or what they do for a living, contrary...

Very well-researched, though often frustrating - as with The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British by Sarah Lyall, the authors here filter "the French" through their experiences with French friends who've done very well, paying lip service to things that don't work well there; moreover, although I give them credit for wanting to give a balanced presentation, I found that they really didn't. They give the impression that the French just love all those strikes, protests, etc. I was there durin...

Nadeau & Barlow (two Canadians from Quebec) wrote this non-fiction book on French culture and government as an expose of the differences between North American and French mindsets. The book offers really compelling evidence for why the French think the way they do and have organized their society and government the way they have. It was a fascinating read and I really think it is a valuable book regardless of your current perspective on the French and their culture.The underlying thesis of the b...

Nadeau & Barlow give an insightful view of French culture, from an insider and outsider perspective. France is a tough nut to crack but their reportage is authentic (according to my numerous French friends, one loaned me his copy to read) and I concur with the authors on the few elements I am familiar enough with have something to say about.France is a fascinating country. It is modern and familiar on some levels and can be totally different and unique in its organization, tradition and ethos. I...

This is a great read for anyone who truly wants to learn more about what make the French so...French. The authors, 2 men from Quebec, live in Paris for a few years and share their observations, historical knowledge, experiences, and testimonials from various sources. What you get is a compilation of chapters that focus on politics, religion, immigration, education, and language (to a name a few) of France, both old and new. I found myself having a few debates with both my husband and French in-l...