Stavisky: A Confidence Man in the Republic of Virtue

by Paul Jankowski

A confidence man with a long police record - who had escaped trial because of the influence of his powerful friends - Stavisky saw his final get-rich scheme collapse in 1933. His unexplained death in an Alpine hideout gave new credence to rumors that he had been abetted and protected by leading politicians. The scandal grew even uglier when the mutilated corpse of a judge connected to the case was found on a railroad track.
Jankowski recounts Stavisky's notorious schemes and untimely demise, the deadly riot that rocked Paris in its wake, the fall of successive governments including that of Edouard Daladier, and the spectacular trial of many of the swindler's accomplices. "Much against his will, Sacha Stavisky," the author observes, "ignited an explosion that briefly engulfed the entire system of government."

Genres: Biography

326 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Paul Jankowski is an American historian and the Raymond Ginger Professor of History Emeritus at Brandeis University. Raised in Europe and the United States, Jankowski attended Balliol College, Oxford for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees,[completing his doctoral dissertation on Simon Sabiani and the rise of fascism and the French Parti Populaire Français in Marseille. Jankowski specializes in the history of modern France and modern Europe, the history of war, and the history of international relations in the interwar period.

Reviews

[Tyler Wolanin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was good but very dense. There are many figures and many moving parts, but the book does a good job of continuously reminding the reader who a given person is and what their deal is (plus the index doubles as a dramatis personae, so that is useful). If anything, it does so to welcome excess. That being said, a certain amount of familiarity with the Third Republic is required. The book will explain who a minor politician is, but it will tell you that they were "a protégé of Waldeck-Rousseau" without telling you who Waldeck-Rousseau was. Books like The Popular Front in France: Defending Democracy, 1934-38 by Julian T. Jackson or The Dreyfus Affair: The Scandal That Tore France in Two by Piers Paul Read were useful building-blocks (and chronological brackets if you don't count World War One). The book zooms out to contextualize various elements of the Third Republic's system and culture but keeps a tight focus focus on the individuals and their activities throughout; at no point does it skip ahead or hand-wave any complicated or mundane affairs.