French Colonial Empire and the Popular Front: Hope and Disillusion (1999)

In revisiting the Popular Front some sixty years on, this book explores the link between metropolitan France and the empire at a defining moment in their history. One of the most significant events of the twentieth century is the end of empire, yet the importance of the empire in shaping contemporary France has traditionally been ignored by historians. By extending our perspective to empire, this book widens our understanding of the Popular Front experience and shows that it represents an important watershed in French history, marking the beginning of an irreversible process of reform that was ultimately to lead to decolonisation and the end of empire.