The Embrace of Unreason in France Leading Up to WWII
The Leonard Lopate Show | Jun 6, 2014
Frederick Brown tells the story of France in the decades leading up to World War II. The Embrace of Unreason: France 1914-1940 shows through how the French intelligentsia turned away from the humanistic traditions and ideals of the Enlightenment in favor of submission to authority, patriotism, militarism, and xenophobia. Brown sees the Paris World’s Fair of 1937 as the perfect representation of Europe’s cultural doomsday, featuring two enormous pavilions, the first built by Nazi Germany, the second by Soviet Russia.
