"This book is fascinating for two reasons. It is a well-documented study of a complex 'political man' with a formidable appetite for power, pleasure and life,whose career and achievements Tiersky traces with subtlety. It is also the record of a constant struggle between Tiersky's fascination with and sympathy for his subject, and his awareness of the darker sides of Mitterrand's 'Machiavellian Republicanism.' This struggle pulls the reader in, and Tiersky's scholarship and thoughtfulness allow each reader to make up his or her own mind."

"Ronald Tiersky is one of the best American specialists of French politics.His excellent book on Francois Mitterrand will add both the point of view of a foreigner and some new insights, even for the French.'"

FRANCOIS MITTERRAND was a controversial politician with a flawed character. One of France's most detested political figures,he was sardonically referred to as a French Machiavellian, "God," "the Florentine," and "the Sphinx." Yet he was also called "the Quiet Force"and even, with affection, "Tonton" or "Dear Uncle." He was undoubtedly one of twentieth-century Europe's most substantial, durable, and statesmanlike leaders. From his much-disputed passage at Vichy during WWII through the major policies of his presidency, Mitterrand's career is a lens through which one can view the anxieties, fears, and instabilities as well as the achievements and successes of contemporary French political history. Ronald Tiersky examines three major themes of Mitterrand's presidency--socialism, national reconciliation, and the reconstruction of Europe--and shows that on each count, Mitterrand left a decisive mark, if not necessarily the one he intended or hoped for. In this first major political biography of Mitterrand since his death, Tiersky looks at the contradiction that was Mitterrand and the legacy he left to France and to the world. Francois Mitterrand: The Last French President promises to be the standard book on this great world leader for years to come.

Acknowledgments

Preface

   PART ONE

WINDING PATH, CONTESTED ITINERARY

1. Introduction: France's Most Controversial Politician

2. The Observatory Affair (1959): Mitterrand' s Defining Crisis

3. Mitterrand's World War II: Between Pdtain and de Gaulle

4. Government and Opposition, 1945 to 1981 : Odyssey or Strategy?...

   PART TWO

THE DESIRE TO MAKE HISTORY, 1981 TO 1995

5. Socialism

6. Europe

7. Legitimacy and Institutions

   PART THREE

 CREDO, MORALITY, LEGACIES

 8. Machiavellian Republican

 9. The Existential Mitterrand

10. Mitterrand and the Human Comedy

11. Mitterrand Agonistes: Vichy Yet a Last Time (Fall 1994)

12. Conclusion: Legacies

Notes

Bibliography

Index