La Fayette, We Are Here!

We often see history as a succession of dates, events, wars and political machinations. But we should not forget that history is also forged by culture and by art. Art reflects society's values and aspirations, but also helps create them and move people forward. It also elevates us and makes us better in many ways.

Among the many art forms available to us, music is the one that transports us with the greatest strength...

For France, the Great War is a serious and deep wound that she partially inflicted on herself. It is painful and has never fully healed. It is something personal, felt by all strata of the nation. From the humblest peasant to the richest industrialist, no layer of French society was spared in the great slaughter that the trenches were. The country itself still bears the scars of battles dating back nearly 110 years...

In this unique episode, we engage in a conversation with Salina B. Baker, an accomplished author of historical fiction, who has received multiple awards for her work. Additionally, she is a historian specializing in the American Revolution and Victorian America.

She has just released an outstanding novel titled "The Line of Splendor: A Novel of Nathanael Greene and the American Revolution...

Liberté, égalité, fraternité. This is the French Republic’s motto. Liberty and equality are also in the first article of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" of 1789. The French are very proud of that heritage, of France’s struggle during and after the Revolution. They think of their homeland as the cradle of liberty in Europe, as a welcoming and understanding land, ruled by reason and intellect, rather than by prejudice and bigotry...

This particular conflict goes by multiple names and definitions. While it is globally recognized as the Seven Years' War, it is more commonly referred to in America as the French and Indian War, and in Canada as the War of Conquest. These wars are all interconnected and are part of a vast global struggle between the two superpowers of the mid-eighteenth century: France and Great Britain.

Considered by many as the first true world war, it continues to reverberate even today...

King Louis XIII and the Cardinal de Richelieu. These two men are quite important and deserve to be better known. The Cardinal is probably the most known of the two, because of his policies, wars and his long lasting impact on French institutions and Europe's destiny.

Louis XIII is often perceived as the weaker of the two, the king who merely signed his minister's recommendation. But history is never quite that straightforward, that easy...

The Nouvelle France (New France) is the French colonization of North America. And by this I mean North America, not just Canada. Over a couple of centuries, the French established settlements all over North America, especially along the St-Lawrence and Mississippi River but also in Nova Scotia, Florida, Louisiana and more...

We delve into the life and reign of King François I (Francis the First), who ruled France from 1515 to 1547. Despite facing significant challenges and experiencing notable failures during his rule, François I remains one of the most renowned French monarchs. He is particularly associated with the Renaissance in France and has left a lasting legacy, particularly in the fields of arts and sciences...

In this special episode, I am joined by Sean J. McLaughlin, historian specialized on the relationship between Charles de Gaulle and John Fitzgerald Kennedy.  He is the author of JFK and de Gaulle: How America and France Failed in Vietnam, 1961-1963 (University Press of Kentucky, 2019).

Together, we discuss the complex but utterly fascinating relationship between France and America in the post-WWII world, especially in Southeast Asia...

"The pearl of the Empire", that's how the French described their colony of Indochina, comprised of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. They took over control in the nineteenth century, exploited the place for decades, and finally got kicked out in 1954-55. 

It is a story of violence and exploitation. Of colonization and war. Of exchanges and legacies. And sometimes, of beauty. A story also rarely told in France, as the French aren't proud of what they did there...