Léon Blum. Un portrait

by Pierre Birnbaum

« La plus personnelle des biographies de référence », Robert Paxton

Dans ce portrait passionné et souvent inattendu, Pierre Birnbaum redonne pleinement vie à Léon Blum : le dreyfusard, l’homme de Juin 36 et de ses immenses conquêtes sociales, mais aussi le jeune dandy aux goûts littéraires d’avant-garde, l’homme d’action doté d’un réel courage physique, l’avocat de l’émancipation sexuelle des femmes, l’amoureux aux multiples vies. Il relit aussi ses engagements à la lumière de l’histoire de ces Juifs d’État, « fous de la République », auxquels il a consacré un livre qui a fait date. Figure accomplie de la francité, Blum ne renia jamais sa judéité.

Une vision singulièrement renouvelée.



Pierre Birnbaum, professeur émérite à l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, est l’auteur de nombreux ouvrages parmi lesquels Les Fous de la République. Histoire politique des juifs d'Etats, de Gambetta à Vichy (Seuil, 1994), Le Moment antisémite. Un tour de la France en 1898 (Fayard, 1998), La République et le cochon (Seuil, 2013) et Les Désarrois d'un fou de l'Etat : entretiens avec Jean Baumgarten et Yves Déloye (Albin Michel, 2015).

Genres: Biography, History, Judaism, Judaica, France

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2015

Reviews

[Manoncrdt · Rating 3 out of 5]

j'ai beaucoup apprécié de découvrir la biographie de ce socialiste dont on connait aussi peu de choses sur lui.

[Alan Kaplan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book about the Jewish prime minister of France in the late 1930's. For some reason, his name has been mostly lost to history. While we all remember the Alfred Dreyfus case in France, most Jews have never heard of Leon Blum. I guess it is human nature to forget your successes and focus on your problems. After the Nazi takeover, he was imprisoned in one of the concentration camps, Buchenwold. He was in a private home, and the Nazis wanted to use him as a bargaining chip. He survived the war and became for a very brief time prime minister once again. Blum led an amazing life. When he was prime minister, he enacted the 40 hour work week, the right to strike, and allowed collective bargaining.

[Alain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, much focus on Blum's jewish roots, some on his socialism, little on his inner life and, except as achievements, very little on his policy platform (especially as there were debates raging on what to do just to exit from the Great Depression) -- so I feel I don't know him any better than before. I think I liked my blurry views of a political hero better before i learned about him in this book. Too bad.

[Erika Dreifus]

Reviewed this book for THE BARNES & NOBLE REVIEW, based on complimentary review copies provided by the publisher.

[Mindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot about former French prime minister Leon Blum from this book, but it was helpful that I already knew quite a bit about that period of history (1872-1950). As is true of many of the Yale Press biographies, the chronology is sometimes difficult to follow, and the books are so short that a great deal of material has to be "scrunched in", leaving the reader at times perplexed. But I was especially enlightened about his avid support of Zionism, his personal life (maybe a little too much!), and his internment at Buchenwald.