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Relations Between Two Peoples: The Singular Example of the United States and France*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Extract

Innumerable are the works of history and political science which treat of the relations between only two peoples. This is, after all, rather surprising, for international life is complex and multilateral, and it can readily be asked what right one has to isolate such purely bilateral relations. Isn't this a bit artificial? If we compare individual human beings with nations, we note that the former live in social groups, and each of them knows an appreciable number of persons outside those groups. Nevertheless it is sometimes useful to study the privileged relations which exist between a husband and wife, between two friends, between two adversaries, between a minister and his principal collaborator. Let us start from the principle that such studies can help us to understand better both man and the society of man.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1979

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References

1 Duroselle, Jean-Baptiste, France and the United States: From the Beginnings to the Present Day, trans. Derek, Colthan (Chicago, 1978)Google Scholar.

2 As amusing evidence of this fact, take the example of an elderly lady in whose house I lived in South Bend, Indiana, in 1951, who could not understand that France itself was different from French-speaking Canada and believed that I could return home by train. I once knew a French agricultural laborer who spent the whole war of 1914–18 in the infantry and thought he was fighting against the English.

3 Les Etats-Unis devant l'opinion francaise, 1851–1852 (Paris, 1956), 2 volsGoogle Scholar.

4 De F. T. Graindorge A A. 0. Barnabooth: les Types Americains dans le Roman et le Theatre Francais 1861–1917 (Paris, 1963)Google Scholar.

5 La France et les Etats-Unis, 1914–1917 (Lille, 1978)Google Scholar; Les Americains a Nantes et a Saint Nazaire (Nantes, 1976)Google Scholar.

6 Le Temps des Americains, 1917–1918 (Paris, 1978).Google Scholar

7 Siegfried, , André, , Les Etats-Unis d'aujord'hui, p. 315Google Scholar.