Praised Be Our Lords: A Political Education

by Régis Debray

Régis Debray is one of France’s leading intellectuals, whose life has intersected with key moments of the twentieth century.

In this explosive memoir, Debray recounts his journey from Louis Althusser and the Parisian lecture theatres, to Cuba and the revolution of the 1960s. From Debray’s torture and imprisonment in Bolivia while in search of Che Guevara, to the corridors of power in the Elysée Palace—where he served as advisor to President Mitterrand— Praised Be Our Lords is an account of an extraordinary life and an exploration of the mechanisms of political passion.

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Intellectual, journalist, government official and professor. He is known for his theorization of mediology, a critical theory of the long-term transmission of cultural meaning in human society; and for having fought in 1967 with Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in Bolivia.

Reviews

[authorial]

I found his criticisms of "tropical socialism" and Che and Fidel to be ahistorical and well, sort of irrelevant.

And his narration style was sometimes lame.

What was interesting for me was historicizing his ideas and getting a sense of the pre-neoliberal Western intellectual landscape.