This unique guide to the French Fourth and Fifth Republics is a comprehensive reference work that includes over 250 entries on a variety of topics--ranging from politics and economics to foreign and defense policy to social and cultural history. It is an interdisciplinary work that will serve as a handy reference tool for those seeking information on contemporary France.

The contributors represent a number of fields, including history, political science, literature, and language. Entries are on both specific events or people and broad thematic topics, such as political, economic, social, and intellectual trends, which help to provide an overview of France since World War II and to place individual entries in a specific context. The volume also includes a short chronology and appendixes classifying entries by categories and listing presidents and prime ministers of the Fourth and Fifth Republics. Each entry concludes with a short bibliography of additional sources.

This is the one reference work that French teachers, students and librarians need for student assignments on the regions of France. A one-stop, easy-to-use reference guide organized by region, it offers in-depth and comprehensive coverage of the cultural life (including cuisine and recipes), customs, history, politics, and the economy of each region. There is no other reference work like it in either English or French. It makes the 22 regions of France accessible to students and others interested in modern and contemporary France, and helps them to understand the complexities of France today and the role of the various regions in the nation's historical, political, economic, and cultural development. A selection of photographs complements the text. The French often tell us, Paris is not France! This guide allows the reader to see the great geographical, cultural, and linguistic variety that exists in France today. Each chapter focuses on a different region and is organized around specific categories: regional geography, history, recent politics, population, economy, culture (including cuisine), architecture and noteworthy sites, and further reading. An introduction offers an historical overview of France from earliest times to the present and a discussion of the regions' role in France today. Appendixes include an historical time line and a list of the rulers of France. An essential purchase for school and public libraries.