A wonderfully eclectic and astonishingly comprehensive volume. The French intellectuals are all here, from Louis Althusser to Simone Weil, from Roland Barthes to Alain Touraine. But as well there are "Movements and Currents," "Themes," and very useful entries on important newspapers, journals, television programs. Lawrence D. Kritzman has created a work of enduring value, one that I know I shall refer to repeatedly.

— Peter Brooks, University of Virginia, author of Realist Vision

This will be an indispensable reference for anyone in the English-speaking world interested in twentieth-century French thought. The mixture of outstanding French representatives of the domains that are the subjects of this project, along with many fine American critics, provokes memorable moments of self-reflection by some of the very intellectuals who have been involved in the history of twentieth-century French thought.

— David Bell, Duke University, author of Real Time: Accelerating Narrative from Balzac to Zola

Lawrence D. Kritzman's history of the French mind throughout the twentieth century draws on a remarkable team of minds for its composition and manages to make many French ideas and thinkers, famous for their intractable difficulty, lucid and transparent without cheating their complexity. An intellectual monument—and an immensely handy reference book as well.

— Adam Gopnik, author of Paris to the Moon and The King in the Window

Lawrence D. Kritzman and his team of expert sous-chefs have prepared a sumptuous buffet of ideas that will nourish and delight the most discerning of intellectual palates. This splendid collection of essays on virtually every facet of twentieth-century French culture is a three-star feast.

— Martin Jay, University of California, Berkeley, author of Songs of Experience: Modern American and European Variations on a Universal Theme

There is no doubt in my mind that this volume will generate a lot of excitement and interest, and will be considered a publishing 'event' on both sides of the Atlantic. People will want to buy the book not just to find out more about French thought, but also to read the entries by a stellar cast of contributors, who sometimes inject their idiosyncratic views on well-worn topics.

— Francoise Lionnet, professor and chair of French and Francophone Studies, UCLA

Anyone wishing to assess or learn about French thinking in the twentieth-century in the social sciences, humanities, and the sciences will now have to turn to this extraordinary collection of writings. It is a monumental labor of love indispensable to all those who are interested in French contributions to the intellectual debates of the last century.

— Ezra Suleiman, Princeton University, author of Dismantling Democratic States