Léon Blum: Humanist in Politics

by Joel Colton

John Colton is a meticulous researcher and a fine craftsman. In his political biography of Leon Blum, these two qualities are beautiully blended; none of the available evidence appears to have been over looked, and the enormous mass of variegated material has been transmuted in a polished, richly tapestried, and absorbing narrative.

Genres: France, Biography

548 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Joel G. Colton was a modern history scholar and author. He received his B.A. in history from City College in 1939 and his M.A. from Columbia University in 1940. After serving in the U.S. Army during WW II, he returned to Columbia, from which he received his Ph.D. in 1950. He taught at Duke University from 1947 until his retirement in 1982, except while serving as director of humanities at the Rockefeller Foundation between 1974 and 1982.

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Léon Blum was a tragic figure. A decent man in indecent times. A reasonable man in unreasonable times. He did not rearm France and, worse, he did not support the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. I found this biography quite absorbing. I found it hard, however, to get a feeling for Blum as a person. I don't think this is a fault of the book but rather that Blum was a man of ideas, when passion may have been called for.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long and Long, but insightful

[John Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, particularly on the interwar period politics. Only topic missing is his colonial plan for Algeria in 1936, Blum-Violette.