In his book Les Intellectuels et les figures politiques charismatiques: De Gaulle, Mendès France, Mitterrand, French academic Nicolas Mary presents an engaging account of the relationship between intellectuals and three charismatic French political leaders—Charles de Gaulle, Pierre Mendès France, and François Mitterrand. Although the book may be of limited interest for scholars focused solely on international affairs and the Cold War, it will appeal to those working on twentieth-century French history, as well as on intellectual and cultural history.
The book is primarily concerned with intellectuals, a term initially coined during the Dreyfus affair to refer to the cultural avant-garde that chose to oppose political elites, hoping to keep them accountable in the name of the values of freedom and justice. Mary pays particular attention to the intellectuals who, not satisfied by a position of perpetual opposition, chose to gravitate toward the entourage of influential politicians in order to...