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Radiance of France
Nov. 13th, 2006 06:37 pmRadiance of France: Nuclear Power and National Identity after World War II (Book Review - Canadian Journal of History)
"Gabrielle Hecht's thorough, detailed, and theoretically sophisticated analysis of the development of French nuclear technology from 1945 to the late 1960s, takes French decline as its starting point. Overcoming the humiliation of capitulation in 1940 was one of de Gaulle's primary objectives, a task he passed on to his successors until his return to the presidency in 1958. But it was not just defeat in World War II that France had to transcend.
The emergence of the Cold War and a new superpower category of nation, along with the contraction of the French empire, complicated the challenge. France had to adapt to ever changing formulae of power. One of the new and essential criteria for greatness, or "radiance," was the mastery of nuclear technology, both as an energy source and a weapon.
Hecht does not see France's nuclear programme solely as a tool for national recovery. It was also an integral part of the reconstruction of France's national identity, an identity which she argues the experience of W.W. II erased."
"Gabrielle Hecht's thorough, detailed, and theoretically sophisticated analysis of the development of French nuclear technology from 1945 to the late 1960s, takes French decline as its starting point. Overcoming the humiliation of capitulation in 1940 was one of de Gaulle's primary objectives, a task he passed on to his successors until his return to the presidency in 1958. But it was not just defeat in World War II that France had to transcend.
The emergence of the Cold War and a new superpower category of nation, along with the contraction of the French empire, complicated the challenge. France had to adapt to ever changing formulae of power. One of the new and essential criteria for greatness, or "radiance," was the mastery of nuclear technology, both as an energy source and a weapon.
Hecht does not see France's nuclear programme solely as a tool for national recovery. It was also an integral part of the reconstruction of France's national identity, an identity which she argues the experience of W.W. II erased."
