""Specialists will learn much from the book, as will anyone interested in the renewal of political history more generally."" - The International History Review ""The essays focus on heretofore underappreciated issues . . . Although several anthologies about modern France have appeared recently, this collection is a particularly worthy contribution because of its approach and its analytical insights. Students and specialists of the history of France will benefit greatly." - History: Reviews of New Books ""The essays are worth reading, and some make very distinctive and important contributions to our understanding of modern French history." - H-France Since 1914, the French state has faced a succession of daunting and at times almost insurmountable crises. The turbulent decades from 1914 to 1969 witnessed near-defeat in 1914, economic and political crisis in 1926, radical political polarization in the 1930s, military conquest in 1940, the deep division of France during the Nazi Occupation, political reconstruction after 1944, de-colonization (with threatening civil war provoked by the Algerian crisis), and dramatic postwar modernization. However, this tumultuous period was not marked just by crises but also by tremendous change. Economic, social and political ""modernization"" transformed France in the twentieth century, restoring its confidence and its influence as a leader in global economic and political affairs. This combination of crises and renewal has received surprisingly little attention in recent years. The present collection show-cases significant new scholarship, reflecting greater access to French archival sources, and focuses on the role of crises in fostering modernization in areas covering politics, economics, women, diplomacy and war. Kenneth Moure is Professor of History at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Martin S. Alexander is Professor of International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK"

Did French gold policy cause the Great Depression? The Gold Standard Illusion draws on newly-available French records to test the gold standard interpretation of the Great Depression. It provides a history of French economic understanding, policy-making, and politics with regard to gold, monetary policy, and the key role of financial problems in political instability from 1914 to 1939.

Since 1914, the French state has faced a succession of daunting and at times almost insurmountable crises. The turbulent decades from 1914 to 1969 witnessed near-defeat in 1914, economic and political crisis in 1926, radical political polarization in the 1930s, military conquest in 1940, the deep division of France during the Nazi Occupation, political reconstruction after 1944, de-colonization (with threatening civil war provoked by the Algerian crisis), and dramatic postwar modernization. However, this tumultuous period was not marked just by crises but also by tremendous change. Economic, social and political "modernization" transformed France in the twentieth century, restoring its confidence and its influence as a leader in global economic and political affairs. This combination of crises and renewal has received surprisingly little attention in recent years. The present collection show-cases significant new scholarship, reflecting greater access to French archival sources, and focuses on the role of crises in fostering modernization in areas covering politics, economics, women, diplomacy and war.

This is the remarkable true story of Douglas Bader, a pilot in the RAF who overcomes every obstacle to prove his worth.

He is a young and ambitious pilot who, after a plane crash, is badly injured. Although doctors expect him to die, he survives but loses both his legs.

As his colleagues prepare for his horror and devastation, they find instead a determination in him which refuses to be changed by the accident. He re-enters the RAF where he is determined to continue his career as a pilot.

Kenneth Moure shows how the black market in Vichy France developed not only to serve German exploitation, but also as an essential strategy for survival for commerce and consumers. His analysis explains how and why the black market became so prevalent and powerful in France and remained necessary after Liberation. Marche Noir draws on diverse French archives as well as diaries, memoirs and contemporary fiction, to highlight the importance of the black market in everyday life. Vichy's economic controls set the context for adaptations - by commerce facing economic and political constraints, and by consumers needing essential goods. Vichy collaboration in this realm seriously damaged the regime's legitimacy. Marche Noir offers new insights into the dynamics of black markets in wartime, and how illicit trade in France served not only to exploit consumer needs and increase German power, but also to aid communities in their strategies for survival.

On April 10th, 1912, RMS Titanic sailed from Southampton on her maiden voyage. On her fourth night at sea she struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of 1,500 passengers and crew. The film taithfully depicts the drama, heroism and horror of the night the unsinkable sank.

Includes behind-the-scenes footage of the movie including interviews with producer William MacQuitty (who saw the original ship launched) and the author of the book, Walter Lord.

Features historical footage of the Titanic, the 1958 London film premiere and the original theatrical trailers.

In black & white.

Defense of the franc Poincaré dominated French economic policy during the Depression. While most countries took their currencies off gold to permit a wider range of domestic policies to foster recovery, in France policy makers resolved to preserve the gold parity of the franc by balancing the budget and lowering domestic prices. Novelty and experimentation were rejected in the conviction that a durable recovery was possible only through a return to strict neoclassical orthodoxy. Managing the franc Poincaré examines French monetary management from 1928 to 1936 in order to explain this stubborn determination to achieve recovery through deflation despite evidence of its failures abroad. Through evaluation of French understanding of the Depression, French economic diplomacy in an era of economic nationalism, the evolving roles of the French treasury and the Bank of France in monetary management and policy determination, and attention to the fractious politics of the Third Republic, French monetary policy is set within its ideological, institutional and political contexts.

Defence of the franc Poincare dominated French economic policy during the Depression. While most countries took their currencies off gold to permit a wider range of domestic policies to foster recovery, in France policy makers resolved to preserve the gold parity of the franc by balancing the budget and lowering domestic prices. Novelty and experimentation were rejected in the conviction that a durable recovery was possible only through a return to strict neoclassical orthodoxy. Managing the Franc Poincare examines French monetary management from 1928 to 1936 in order to explain this stubborn determination to achieve recovery through deflation despite evidence of its failures abroad.

Junior doctor Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) gains a position at St Swithin's Hospital in London and ends up sharing 'digs' with a bunch of slightly older young medics, all of whom have failed the previous year on account of their inability to keep to the curriculum. Sparrow tries to find a balance between the antics of his new peers and the ever-terrifying Sir Lancelot Spratt, chief surgeon at St Swithin's and a man on the lookout for miscreant doctors wherever they may be. Menaced by the advances of his landlady's daughter, and feelings for one of the nurses, will Sparrow be able to qualify?

Lewis Gilbert's dramatic re-telling of the Allied mission in the spring of 1941 to find and destroy Germany's largest battleship, the Bismarck. The story is told from two angles; the ships involved and the war-room in London where Captain John Shepherd (Kenneth More) plots the manouevres using models of the ships. Shepherd has an emotional reason for wanting the battleship sunk, his wife was recently killed in a German raid on London and his son is missing in action, and struggles to keep his emotions in line whilst making decisions that affect hundreds of lives. The final scenes are a mixture of newsreel of the battle and up-dated special effects.

Classic documentary drama based on Walter Lord's book about the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Told from the perspective of Second Officer Charles Lightoller (Kenneth More), the story follows the supposedly 'unsinkable' ship as she embarks on her maiden voyage and ultimately founders in the North Atlantic Ocean. The ship leaves port and soon Captain Smith (Laurence Naismith) is given several ice warnings but decides not to decrease the Titanic's speed. When the ship hits an iceberg late at night on April 14th the situation looks bleak, especially with the realisation that there are not enough lifeboats to carry all on board. The Titanic's distress call is received by the Carpathia but she is four hours away and unlikely to reach the ship before it sinks. Chaos breaks out both above and below deck as the passengers and crew race against time for their survival.

Guy Hamilton's classic war film looks at how England defended itself from the German aerial onslaught of the summer of 1940. Laurence Olivier plays Sir Hugh Dowding, the air chief marshal whose fleet outmanouevre the Luftwaffe, despite a numerical disadvantage; and those few to whom so many owed so much are portrayed by an all-star cast including Michael Caine, Kenneth More and Ralph Richardson. Despite its pro-British slant, the authenticity of the film's impressive flying sequences was guaranteed by the technical advice of Adolf Galland, one of the Nazi's most celebrated World War 2 pilots.

The second version of John Buchan's classic thriller sees Kenneth More as the innocent man caught up in international intrigue. Richard Hannay (More) meets a young nanny and takes her back to his flat. He soon learns she is not all that she seems to be and when she is murdered he becomes the prime suspect. On the run from the police, he heads to Scotland and searches for the connection with the '39 Steps'.