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What is it with these French?
: If I were a book publisher, I’d look at weblogs to see what’s creating buzz, what’s clicking with the audience.
I’m surprised sometimes to see what causes the most comment.
For example, anything that mentions the French gets the dander flying.
So if I were a book publisher, I’d go out and commission a book called, What Is It With These French?
That sounds like a business plan, my man!
How about “Frenching Frenchmen and the French Frenchers who French Them”? It would be, you know, fair and balanced and all.
I posted all of my books I have on the subject last night, but it was erased. I will post a bibliography later. None of them are “Coulter-ish” with name calling like Matt Welch suggested. Actually, most are written by Frenchmen. The latest books can be found on French Amazon.com.
There are dozens and it’s a subject written about since the American Revolution. At the time of the AR the books were written by the French who had found that the poor and arrogant behavior of many French aristocrats left many with a deep dislike and distrust. When the French began writing books about how mediocre and biologically inferior were the inhabitants of the U.S., the anti-French feeling accelerated. Before Chirac it was CDG who not only insulted the people who gave him back his country (Churchill, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower), but created an uproar in 1964 when CDG chose not to honor allied dead at the anniversary of D-Day and was refusing to allow a service for British and American dead. This was the first time there was a call to repatriate our dead by the general public.
And on, and on…this is why there are plenty of books…
The French have a long history of spitting on Americans, only occasionally relieved by magnificent gestures that almost, almost, make up for all the abuse.
Then, in the 20th century, they quit with the magnificent gestures. But not the spitting.