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The French: Portrait Of A People
An informative and highly entertaining commentary on a country and its people. The author, born to French parents, attended Yale University and worked for years as a Pulitzer-winning journalist in NYC. Gramont "writes and thinks in English but still counts and occasionally dreams in French." He explains why the French are both admired and detested, and unique.
470 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
3 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Sanche de Gramont
23 booksBorn Saint-Charles Armand Gabriel de Gramont*, he used the name Sanche de Gramont as his byline (and also on his books) during the early part of his career. He worked as a journalist for many years, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 for local reporting written under pressure of a deadline. In February 1977 he became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and had his name legally changed to Ted Morgan. He wrote about that experience in On Becoming American. He was a National Book Award finalist in 1982 for Maugham: A Biography.
*His father was a military pilot who died in an accident in 1943, at which point he inherited the title "Comte de Gramont". He was properly styled "Saint-Charles Armand Gabriel, Comte de Gramont" until he renounced his title upon becoming a U.S. citizen in 1977.
*His father was a military pilot who died in an accident in 1943, at which point he inherited the title "Comte de Gramont". He was properly styled "Saint-Charles Armand Gabriel, Comte de Gramont" until he renounced his title upon becoming a U.S. citizen in 1977.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 30, 2020
From politics and philosophy to food, wine and sax, Gramont (aka Ted Morgan) presents a bouquet of French data and musings :
-- Love cannot exist bet married couples becos it is not voluntary
-- Adultry is not the affair, it's when you return to the marriage bed
-- China & France are the only countries with a cuisine and a politesse
-- Since the French expect the worst from life, they are never surprised
-- "Esprit" is a verbal spark, a defense ag what society cannot accept
-- In the Middle Ages, many of the best vineyards were owned the Church (Natch!)
-- Baudelaire > 'Someone who drinks only water has a secret to conceal'
-- Brantome > 'Copulate whenever you can w whomever you can'
-- Manners must be polished, crudeness abolished
-- The gourmet dates back to Rabelais, who listed 60 ways to cook an egg
-- "A dessert without cheese is a one-eyed beauty"
-- Careme's fame in the kitchen helped French diplomacy
-- Pasteur, Voltaire, Racine, Corneille, Moliere are on the franc note. ~ Culture saturates French life ~~ When Faulkner, Whitman, Hawthorne adorn US bills, America will finally understand the advantages of culture
Anyway, there's a lot Americans can still learn, Gramont demonstrates. Hugely entertaining and valid.
-- Love cannot exist bet married couples becos it is not voluntary
-- Adultry is not the affair, it's when you return to the marriage bed
-- China & France are the only countries with a cuisine and a politesse
-- Since the French expect the worst from life, they are never surprised
-- "Esprit" is a verbal spark, a defense ag what society cannot accept
-- In the Middle Ages, many of the best vineyards were owned the Church (Natch!)
-- Baudelaire > 'Someone who drinks only water has a secret to conceal'
-- Brantome > 'Copulate whenever you can w whomever you can'
-- Manners must be polished, crudeness abolished
-- The gourmet dates back to Rabelais, who listed 60 ways to cook an egg
-- "A dessert without cheese is a one-eyed beauty"
-- Careme's fame in the kitchen helped French diplomacy
-- Pasteur, Voltaire, Racine, Corneille, Moliere are on the franc note. ~ Culture saturates French life ~~ When Faulkner, Whitman, Hawthorne adorn US bills, America will finally understand the advantages of culture
Anyway, there's a lot Americans can still learn, Gramont demonstrates. Hugely entertaining and valid.
December 3, 2025
deGramont makes some interesting comments on the French, on their morals and manners, sex, religion, politics, wine, and their rudeness. Written in '69, I think much of it is outdated, but I think that there is a lot that is still useful here... Of particular interest are the remarks on the "traumas" of the French past, such as the defeat by Prussia in 1871. This was a major factor in causing World War I, as the French sought revenge for their loss. Despite the victory over Germany in WWI, France was bled white. The building of the Maginot Line was done at great cost, but failed to save the French from Hitler's attack in 1940. Defeat was not only followed by occupation, but France was divided between those like DeGaulle who would fight on and those who supported the Vichy regime and collaborated with the Germans. Further traumas occurred as France was forced to give up its colonial empire, Indochina and then Algeria...
September 4, 2018
Have you ever finished a book and immediately decided to seek out everything else the author has ever written? That’s what happened to me on finishing The French, which I picked up at my local library’s book sale for one dollar. I’ve made few better reading decisions.
Sanche de Gramont (the first name is an abbreviation of “St. Charles”), born in 1932, is the grandson of the Duc de Gramont, and was thus entitled to the style “Comte de Gramont”. The reason for the difference in tenses is that in 1977 he became a US citizen, thereby renouncing his title, and took the name Ted Morgan, which is an anagram of “de Gramont”. But this had not yet happened when The French was published, which was in 1969.
In 1937, Sanche’s father was posted as air attaché at the French embassy in Washington, and so Sanche grew up not only bilingual but bicultural. The ability to see two different countries, each from the viewpoint of the other and with a deep first-hand knowledge of both, is pretty rare; but Sanche/Ted has it, and since he’s also first-class writer, it makes his books on the subject fascinating reading.
This opus is thus half of a logical pair, the other being On Becoming American (confusingly, the books are published under his two different names). The breadth of knowledge displayed in both is astonishing, and I consider them among the best I’ve read.
However, The French is not an introductory text: as with most accounts of anything beyond the elementary, it does take for granted a certain minimum background knowledge, both of France and of European history generally. If you need to be reminded that Napoleon was the French dead dude co-opted by Bill & Ted, have never heard of Versailles and don’t know at least approximately when the Hundred Years’ War was, you may find it too dense.
Sanche de Gramont (the first name is an abbreviation of “St. Charles”), born in 1932, is the grandson of the Duc de Gramont, and was thus entitled to the style “Comte de Gramont”. The reason for the difference in tenses is that in 1977 he became a US citizen, thereby renouncing his title, and took the name Ted Morgan, which is an anagram of “de Gramont”. But this had not yet happened when The French was published, which was in 1969.
In 1937, Sanche’s father was posted as air attaché at the French embassy in Washington, and so Sanche grew up not only bilingual but bicultural. The ability to see two different countries, each from the viewpoint of the other and with a deep first-hand knowledge of both, is pretty rare; but Sanche/Ted has it, and since he’s also first-class writer, it makes his books on the subject fascinating reading.
This opus is thus half of a logical pair, the other being On Becoming American (confusingly, the books are published under his two different names). The breadth of knowledge displayed in both is astonishing, and I consider them among the best I’ve read.
However, The French is not an introductory text: as with most accounts of anything beyond the elementary, it does take for granted a certain minimum background knowledge, both of France and of European history generally. If you need to be reminded that Napoleon was the French dead dude co-opted by Bill & Ted, have never heard of Versailles and don’t know at least approximately when the Hundred Years’ War was, you may find it too dense.
February 27, 2018
Meandering, name-dropping mess !
This book should be used as an example of how not to write an "incisive look at an important country and ethnic group of the world". There is nothing to hold on to, the author loves the sound of his own voice, he has filled the book with supposedly clever aphorisms and little sayings that should be put into fortune cookies. Only those are Chinese. Well, whatever. I'm sure he had a group of his smart alec friends in mind when he wrote this. He loves name-dropping too. I can't believe people give this book five stars, but then that's a matter of taste, so fair enough. I had an extremely hard time getting through this book and I'm a person who likes France, though I have not seen so much of it. Though I read it some years ago, I still shake my head when I think of it.
This book should be used as an example of how not to write an "incisive look at an important country and ethnic group of the world". There is nothing to hold on to, the author loves the sound of his own voice, he has filled the book with supposedly clever aphorisms and little sayings that should be put into fortune cookies. Only those are Chinese. Well, whatever. I'm sure he had a group of his smart alec friends in mind when he wrote this. He loves name-dropping too. I can't believe people give this book five stars, but then that's a matter of taste, so fair enough. I had an extremely hard time getting through this book and I'm a person who likes France, though I have not seen so much of it. Though I read it some years ago, I still shake my head when I think of it.
May 21, 2018
All things French interest me. At least that's what I thought. It turns out that all that French history didn't really interest me. But the second half of the book made up for it. When de Gramont began to talk about food, clothing, social history, sex and sexual relations, marriage, adultery, feminism, money, and cafes, I was hooked and didn't want to put the book down. Reading about the institution of the french concierge and the general attribute of distrust explained much of why those women in the Inspector Maigret books had the attitude they had. His discussion of marriage and adultery made all those French books and films and attitudes you hear about related to their political leaders on the news understandable. Adultery, he says, is what the French believe makes marriage possible -- bearable. Written in 1969, I wish he would write an update.
August 23, 2021
Started off slow and stodgy but eventually caught up to me and I began to appreciate it more despite its datedness, having been written in the late 60s. de Gramont focuses on the complications, contradictions, and complexities of French life, history, geography, and culture from the period post Roman Empire up to the contemporary days. Don't expect to read a linear history - the author jumps around significantly, referencing the new with the old. Don't also expect to digest everything at one go. It's best to approach the text with an interest in submerging oneself in the language, characters, and history that de Gramont presents, and then "go with the flow."
The strongest chapters are those concerning what de Gramont calls "traumas" (i.e. wars, particularly conflicts which France suffered (e.g. Algiers)); and the bureaucratic state (and why it plays such an important role in French life). The references to military history are also interesting and useful and worthy of further exploration.
The strongest chapters are those concerning what de Gramont calls "traumas" (i.e. wars, particularly conflicts which France suffered (e.g. Algiers)); and the bureaucratic state (and why it plays such an important role in French life). The references to military history are also interesting and useful and worthy of further exploration.
December 9, 2020
Ted Morgan does not like his roots, and this book is his hatchet job on the French. Perhaps when he was injured covering Katanga, and the American embassy helped fly him to London for treatment while he was ignored by the French embassy, it set him on the path of revanche. Now, if this is breezy and superficial speculation, it is on a par with much that is in the book.
Per Morgan, universities in France are state institutions and therefore of limited value; private universities supported by foundations are much to be preferred (and the astronomical cost to the student and their families just doesn't enter into his analysis).
Per Morgan, Jews in New York feel vaguely sympathetic to Israel just like the French felt sympathetic to the Pied Noirs (and the part Israel plays in the identity of Jews in the U.S. can be wholly disregarded).
Per Morgan, Cartesian classification and bureaucratic ossification take the place of any real thought, feelings, or change in France, and only something shaking the system to its foundations or a revolution can effect progress (and we can pretend that the EU never happened).
Morgan wrote this book around 1969 and wondered whether the Fifth Republic could survive De Gaulle's departure. It did. It also survived Morgan's departure.
Per Morgan, universities in France are state institutions and therefore of limited value; private universities supported by foundations are much to be preferred (and the astronomical cost to the student and their families just doesn't enter into his analysis).
Per Morgan, Jews in New York feel vaguely sympathetic to Israel just like the French felt sympathetic to the Pied Noirs (and the part Israel plays in the identity of Jews in the U.S. can be wholly disregarded).
Per Morgan, Cartesian classification and bureaucratic ossification take the place of any real thought, feelings, or change in France, and only something shaking the system to its foundations or a revolution can effect progress (and we can pretend that the EU never happened).
Morgan wrote this book around 1969 and wondered whether the Fifth Republic could survive De Gaulle's departure. It did. It also survived Morgan's departure.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews