From Resistance and Betrayal, The Death and Life of the Greatest Hero of the French Resistance by Patrick Marnham, I learned that not only did the Communists of the French Resistance repeatedly betray their non-communist compatriots to the Nazis—they also embarked on a wholesale slaughter of them after the war in order to prevent them from gaining power and to also effect the sinister plans of their Soviet masters.
Even knowing all this- until I read Our Oldest Enemy, A History of America’s Disastrous Relationship with France by John J. Miller and Mark Molesky, I was naïve of the terrible impact France has had on America.
I read different books in different ways. If a book is merely good, I graze periodically, dividing my time between other books. If a book is excellent, I read it over a few days—ripping through it quickly with no regard for anything other than getting to the point.
When a book is truly outstanding, I not only have to fight myself to put it down to go to work or do chores, I re-read sentences in order to savor their particularly pleasing and memorable phrasing. This is one of those books. I consider this book to be a necessary antidote to the sentimentality about the French that has been thoughtlessly fed to those of us who were victims of government schools. And-unlike dry school lessons on history-it is a true pleasure to read.
From this book, we see a foreshadowing of the savagery of which the French proved capable during their Revolution terrifyingly exhibited by them during America’s pre-revolutionary history. In the midst of the French-Indian wars, the French, cynically and without Christian conscience, employed the most terrifying Weapon of Mass Destruction of that time and place. This WMD was the savagery of American Indian tribes, who like Islamic terrorists, made no distinction between fighting-men and infants.
During the American Revolution, France-though our ostensible ally- engaged in double-dealing designed both to retaliate against its ancient enemy Britain and to prevent an emerging American Republic from gaining sufficient power to pose an obstruction to France’s own designs on the American continent. After the American victory, France's interference threatened our nascent Republic’s very survival through the Civil War and beyond.
Article comments
1 - John Slattery
Your conclusion - that France is not and has never been our friend - strikes me, perhaps unfairly, as being ingenuous. It is, I'd say, a basic principle of international relations that countries do not HAVE friends; they have interests. And there is NO such thing as altruism, especially among nations. France, like every other country, looks out for its own self-interest, not always, admittedly, in ways that many might consider to be "enlightened" and often in ways that some might regard as "immoral" or "unethical". But in this respect, France is no different from any other nation. Your unflattering descriptions of France can be applied, with equal justification, to any other country, past or present.
2 - Nancy
A little of it, too, can probably be attributed to vanity. After all, the French were once THE arbiters of culture, language, art, fashion, even food - in the entire Western world and by extension the entire world where Europeans dominated. Militarily they dominated until the defeat of Napoleon; culturally until early into the 20th century. Then after WWI, they tanked. Suddenly they were the apex of civilization only in the fields of cuisine and fashion, and as a world power - zip. Pretty far of a comedown. I hope I don't live to see what the US does when we finally hit bottom and become only a symbol of licentious 'entertainment' and incessant advertising.
3 - Nancy
P.S. I always ADORED Pepe Le Pew. I thought he was too cute to move, and when I got old enough to recognize him as a caricature of Maurice Chevalier, it only made him cuter, IMO. I still love Monsieur Le Pew. And BTW, he wasn't the only French skunk: remember M'amselle in 'Pogo'? She wasn't a stinker, either!
4 - JR
Actually the French are a major force in motor sports; they've produced some of the best drivers and they're a leader in automotive technology.
5 - Duane
They are also the inventors of the French accent, which is about the coolest accent there is. And what would a hot dog be without the French's mustard?
6 - JR
Get real. The French accent doesn't even come close to the Irish, Scottish or Indian accents.
The metric system is quite useful though.
7 - Nancy
And french fries. And don't forget the french kiss, for those into tonsils. Then there's the french bikini - quite racy for its time. I personally like the Carribean accent myself - that guy who voiced the crab in "Little Mermaid"...I must have a thing for cartoon guys w/accents.
8 - HW Saxton
Supposedly "Fellatio" is an invention of
the French as well. Although I imagine
the origins of that act go back a bit
further than the Frogs can honestly lay
claim to.
9 - Duane
The film maker? Nah, I think he was Italian.
10 - HW Saxton
Duane, Quite the cunning linguist aren't
you?
11 - Duane
Touche, H.W.
Tish, that's French!
12 - HW Saxton
Gomez, Not in front of the children.
13 - Kath
I just stumbled onto this archived review by accident and I must say - what a gem. What a jewel of entertainment this page is in its own right, filled with the sidesplitting observations of someone who has formed a tidy set of opinions on an entire nation with the help of... let's see... one cartoon character, two movies, one sitcom, and four books. I must have a look at all this myself. I can only hope that the "History of America's Disastrous Relationship with Those Evil, Evil French" will be quite so amusing, but at least it's already been deftly proven to be edifying: who would've thought, for instance, that a country's worth (or lack thereof) could be determined by the tone of their dealings with the US? It's all so exquisitely simple!
Many belated thanks go out to you. I haven't read anything this funny all week.