Prisoners of Honor: The Dreyfus Affair

by David Levering Lewis

The Dreyfus Affair began with the persecution of Alfred Dreyfus, the French Army's promising Jewish officer falsely accused of passing military secrets to Germany. It ended as the cause celebre of the 19th century: the affair not only of France but of the world, an event that sparked mass protests in Europe and America, produced produced Emile Zola's J'Accuse, and involved such figures as Mark Twain, William James, andQueen Victoria.

Genres: History, France, Nonfiction, Politics

346 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

David Levering Lewis is the Julius Silver University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus at New York University.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is absolutely, far and away, the best book I've read concerning the Dreyfus Affair. I won't go into the details of the Affair, but suffice it to say that it turned the French military and church upside down at the end of the 19th century.

Lewis's prose is sweet, so sweet that you sometimes forget that you are reading nonfiction. He covers all the characters involved in the Affair, both Army and civilian, and shows how each of them fits into French history and society at the time. (This is the time period of Proust's Remembrances of Times Past.)

Although it is very clear that Lewis's feelings are on the side of Dreyfus (as history was), he shows wonderfully how not only Dreyfus but also the military were Prisoners of Honor.

[Don Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remarkable history of the Dreyfus affair, in which a young officer in the French army was, in the mid-1890s, accused of serious crimes on entirely fabricated evidence and spent five tortured years in prison, desperate to prove his innocence. Due to his remote imprisonment he was forced to rely almost entirely on the efforts of his wife and brother. The resilience of anti-semitism, its tendency to intensify in difficult times, is at the heart of the horrendous episode...

[Stinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is not inevitable that the truth wins out, at least in the immediate time period. That is the lesson I learned from this well written page-turner. Dreyfus suffered silently, while military authorities in the French army exaggerated and fabricated evidence to support their previous supposition of his guilt, even after the evidence accumulated clearly pointed to someone else. What a tragedy. Even once exonerated, Dreyfus was never the same - permanently marred physically and psychologically by his years in isolation in prison. This whole affair further undermined French societal stability. What an injustice! One can only appeal to God for final justice in such matters, because Dreyfus never fully received it during his lifetime.

[Stacy Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of the Dreyfuss Affair. The fact that Lewis writes from the point of view of honor explains the actions taken by everyone involved. Highly recommend for anyone interested in this sad case of French justice.