PERRIN
JUNE TO DECEMBER
2014
RIGHTS Rebecca BYERS rebecca.byers@edi8.fr EDITIONS PERRIN an Edi8 imprint 12, Avenue d’Italie 75013 Paris tel : +33 (0)1 44 16 08 90
JUNE - DECEMBER 2014
WORLD WAR I & II HISTORY § § § § § §
WEHRMACHT LETTERS by Marie Moutier…………………………………...…………………….....p.4 HITLER AND FRANCE by Jean-Paul Cointet…………………………………………………………..p.5 RUSSIA AT WAR 1914-1917 by Alexandre Sumpf…………………………………………………....p.6 1916 – HELL by Yves Le Naour…………………………………………………………………………..p.7 OF BLOOD AND SCEPTRE by Jean Des Cars………………………………………………………...p.8 A HISTORY OF THE THIRD REICH by François Delpla………………………………………………p.9
GENERAL HISTORY § § § § §
BATTLES THAT CHANGED HISTORY by Arnaud Blin……………………………………….…..….p.10 WHITE HOUSE SECRETS by Nicole Bacharan and Dominique Simonnet……………………..…..p.11-12 A HISTORY OF BERLIN by Philippe Meyer………………………………………………….…………p.13 REMAINING JEWISH by Yaël Hirsch…….……………………..……………………………………….p.14 THE RED DYNASTY by Pascal Dayez-Burgeon……….………………………………………….......p.15
BIOGRAPHIES § § § § § § § § §
PETAIN by Bénédicte Vergez-Chaignon………………………………………………………………..p.16 LOUIS XV by Jean-Christian Petitfils…………………………………………………………………….p.17 ADMIRAL HORTHY¸The Hungarian Regent (1920-1944) by Catherine Horel.............................p.18 QUEEN ZENOBIA by Maurice Sartre et Annie Sartre-Fauriat………………………………………...p.19 THEODOSIUS by Bertrand Lançon……………………………………………………………………....p.20 ISABELLA The Catholic by Marie-France Schmidt……………………………………………………p.21 BENEDICT XV by Yves Chiron…..…………………………………………………………………….....p.22 MARIE-ANTOINETTE by André Castelot..………………………………………………………………p.23 CAROLINE BONAPARTE by Florence de Baudus………………………………………………....…p.24
MASTERS OF WAR §
MACARTHUR, THE ENFANT TERRIBLE OF THE US ARMY by François Kersaudy……………p.25-26
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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WORLD WAR I & II HISTORY WEHRMACHT LETTERS Marie MOUTIER – Preface by Timothy Snyder Between 1939 and 1945, Wehrmacht soldiers wrote incessantly to their closest friends and family. In this selection of the most powerful and revealing letters selected among the 16 000 that were donated by German families to the Deutsche Dienststelle archive in Berlin, the reader discovers the Second World War, as seen from the inside. The letters are presented here in their entirety, chronologically, and cover all the fronts of the war - from the East to North Africa - allowing a broad picture of the conflict's evolution from the point of view of the "ordinary" soldier.
18 SEPTEMBER 2014 348 pp.
As Timothy Snyder says in his preface : "Hannah Arendt spoke of the banality of evil; in these letters one finds more often the evil of banality... The publication of the full texts of the letters allows us to see the frightening totality of everyday life...The connections (the soldiers) draw between what they see and what they do must be explained to others in ways that preserve both the sense of the war and the sense of those relationships. The German soldiers' ability to do evil and their capacity to rationalize to others, and thus to themselves, were all too human."
Around 17 million soldiers served in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, and nearly all of them wrote home regularly. These letters are among the invaluable documents that, as primary sources, provide an image of the war as seen from the inside. They are reproduced here for the first time in their entirety, adding immeasurably to our knowledge of the mindset and the actions of soldiers of the Third Reich. This is a description of the daily reality of warfare, fought on all fronts, from the invasion of Poland to the fall of Berlin. While the letters dating from the French campaign of 1940 or the beginning of Operation Barbarossa express a fervent hope to take part in the rebirth of Greater Germany, missives written in the wake of the defeat of Stalingrad are explosive in a different way. The reader absorbs the soldiers’ disillusion and distress in the face of physical and material conditions that grow daily more unbearable and an increasingly dim vision of victory as they are overwhelmed by Russian and American enemies. But their weariness of combat and desire to go home are balanced by expressions of exaltation of their faith in Germany and in Hitler. For, contrary to the outdated image which nonetheless remains in some sectors, that of a clean-cut and dutiful army that was somewhat distant from Naziism, the soldiers of the Wehrmacht were not ordinary soldiers. Most evident in these letters is the fact that many were the bearers of Hitler’s ideology throughout Europe, the spearhead of Naziism in war. Specialist on the Third Reich and, specifically, the Wehrmacht, Marie Moutier defended a thesis on the subject. Respected Germanist, she was granted access, sometimes for the first time, to the personal files of soldiers of the German army stored at the Deutsche Dienststelle, in Berlin.
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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WORLD WAR I & II HISTORY HITLER AND FRANCE Jean-Paul COINTET An original study of a little-known side of Hitler in an examination of his complex relations with France over a thirty year period, one that would end in atrocity
4 SEPTEMBER 2014 430 pp. ·
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The author won the Grand Prix of the Académie Française in 1999 Jean-Paul Cointet is a three times winner of the Académie des Sciences morales et politiques
Most readers now know a good deal about the Occupation and the Vichy regime. But what do we know, in this context, about the real master of occupied France, Hitler, and of his ultimate intentions where France was concerned? Strangely enough, not an awful lot, apart from the famous photo of him contemplating the Eiffel Tower, the notorious handshake at Montoire, and his adamant order to destroy Paris. This new work, Hitler et la France, is the first to concentrate on Hitler’s actual vision of France, and it is highly original in at least three ways: First of all, it is based upon documents emanating from Hitler and his entourage. In addition, it goes back to the evolution of his perception of France in the period prior to 1940 (during the First World War, and as he wrote Mein Kampf, etc.). It follows Hitler’s actions step by step after 1940, thus revealing his terrifying plan for France. In the background is the face of a France still reeling from the trauma of the Great War, a country incapable of fully comprehending the reality of the Hitlerian phenomenon. Professor emeritus of universities, Jean-Paul Cointet is an acknowledged specialist of the Second World War. Author of several works that are considered references (Pierre Laval (Fayard, 1993), Marcel Déat (Perrin, 1998), Sigmaringen (Perrin, 2014), and Hippolyte Taine (Perrin, 2012), among others) he has been the laureate of the Académie française (once awarded the Grand Prix) and the Académie des Sciences morales et politiques three times.
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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WORLD WAR I & II HISTORY RUSSIA AT WAR 1914-1918 Alexandre SUMPF The untold history of a long-neglected major front of the Great War
2 OCTOBER 2014 450 pp.
· An original work that has no equivalent in French, English or Russian, by the only French historian working directly on the subject
What do we know of the 15 million soldiers of the Czar who fought against three empires? Do we know what they thought, endured and experienced, how the war effort was organized, and the degree to which populations suffered from the losses, the deportations, and occupations? Imagine a civil society standing up to a power that scorns it through its patriotic, economic, and philanthropic commitment, an empire whose people seek to throw off the chains of Russian domination, a capital where political parties plot to put an end to autocracy. As Lenin said, this war «catalysed history». Out of it emerged two revolutions—of February and October, 1917—which would give birth to citizenship, create a new agrarian equilibrium, and definitively confirm the refusal to fight on the front. The Great War ended here as well, in March 1918, but only to give way to a myriad of political and social struggles cumulatively known as the civil war. If we have forgotten this conflict or know very little about it in France, it is because the memory of it, however vivid at the outset, was deactivated under the communist regime and remains so today. And yet, this was the most murderous front of the First World War. Alexandre Sumpf is a lecturer in Contemporary history at the Université de Strasbourg. Agrégé in history, he studied at the Ecole normale supérieure. His research focuses on propaganda in Russia and in the USSR, especially cinema. He is the author of De Lénine à Gagarine. Une histoire sociale de l’URSS (Gallimard, Folio histoire, 2013).
· An enlightening rereading of the conflict heightened by the most recent advances in historiography · The author’s use of primary sources from the Russian archives
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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WORLD WAR I & II HISTORY 1916 – HELL Jean-Yves LE NAOUR rd
With this 3 opus, the author devotes his considerable talent to the ongoing story of the Great War, his original interpretation of a wide range of sources bringing the reader face to face with the reality of st the 4 years of the 1 global conflict.
23 OCTOBER 2014 396 pp.
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The author’s reputation as an acknowledged specialist of the First World War The success of the first two volumes of the series, 1914 and 1915
In the same collection: 1914: 10.000 copies sold
At the dawn of 1916, Joffre was planning a general Allied offensive that would advance simultaneously on the Somme, the Russian front, the Balkans, and Italy. But the Germans attacked first, at Verdun on the 21st of February. In a single day, a million and a half shells were fired . An unprecedented fire power, and the beginning of hell. On a broader, international scope, 1916 saw the Arabs, led by Lawrence of Arabia, revolt against the flailing Ottoman Empire. Crumbling from the inside, Russia desperately threw its last troops into battle with the Broussilov offensive. 1916 was also the year when an exhausted Germany, asphyxiated by the British naval blockade, launched an intense campaign of submarine warfare. 1916 was also a year of tension and turbulent change on the French political front. The pacifist movement became organized, the Socialists split, the Union sacrée was fast fading, and the Chamber of Deputies and Senate met in secret committee to get rid of Joffre and Aristide Briand. With the narrative talent he is known for, Jean-Yves Le Naour takes us behind the scenes of the conflict, alternating the perceptions of the powers and those of the people, including those of the British and Germans, thanks to a study of diplomatic archives. In so doing, he demolishes a number of prejudices and commonly held assumptions, including the myth of Pétain, the victor of Verdun. In reality, his promotion dovetailed with a political plan to bring down Joffre! A lively and poignant narrative that brilliantly blends facts, feelings, and the realities of war. With a doctorate in history, documentary maker Jean-Yves Le Naour is a specialist of the Great War and the author of several works on the subject, including Les Soldats de la honte (Grand Prix d’histoire OuestFrance), 1914, and 1915, all published by Perrin.
1915: 10.000 copies sold
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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WORLD WAR I & II HISTORY OF BLOOD AND SCEPTRE Jean des CARS This is the story of how the European monarchies lived through the maelstrom of two world wars. Portraits, anecdotes, juggled st alliances… For the 1 time, Jean Des Cars takes us to the heart of the Courts of Europe at war.
30 OCTOBER 2014 400 pp.
Kings and Queens in the turmoil of two World Wars: Hapsburg, Hohenzollern, Windsor, the royal families of Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece.
This is an essentially personal and human story of the families of the reigning dynasties during the two world wars, all of them inextricably involved in and often victims of the dramatic events that punctuated these two conflicts. These families were often inter-related, which gave rise to additional dilemmas. La Guerre des rois et des reines is an often dramatic and always vivid account of the years of conflict that crushed Europe and precipitated the fall of several dynasties (the Romanovs and Hapsburgs in 1918; the royal houses of Romania, Yugoslavia, and Savoy after 1945). What became of the sovereigns in the aftermath of each of these wars? Who managed to survive, either still on their thrones, exiled, banished, or having abdicated? The double tragedy of the First and Second World Wars swept aside or definitively overwhelmed all the European monarchies, and through them, the power of the “old continent”. In a succession of chronological chapters, each concentrating upon one family, Jean des Cars presents portraits of the monarchs and zeroes in on key moments and little known anecdotes, in a narrative of the “twilight of the kings” as it has never been told. Jean des Cars is a historian of the great dynasties of Europe and their most illustrious members. Among his most popular works are Eugénie, la dernière impératrice (Perrin, 2000); Sissi ou la Fatalité (Perrin, 2009); La Saga des Romanov (Plon, 2008) ; La Saga des Habsbourg (Perrin, 2010); La Saga des Windsor (Perrin, 2011), La Saga des reines (Perrin, 2012) and La Saga des favorites (Perrin, 2013).
By the same author: Saga des Romanov: 70.000 copies sold Saga des Habsbourg : 30.000 copies sold Eugénie : 30.000 copies sold
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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WORLD WAR I & II HISTORY HISTORY OF THE 3rd REICH François DELPLA The long-awaited synthesis While everyone is familiar with the person and the personality of Hitler and his principle lieutenants (Himmler, Goering, Heydrich, Goebbels) the same is not true of the regime he founded and ruled with an iron hand. Apart from the work of Richard Evans (but it is three volumes long), no recent synthesis has been published, particularly by any French historian. François Delpla, the first French biographer of the Führer, has filled this gap, presenting here an exhaustive synthesis dealing with the men, the politics and policies, the society and the institutions of Nazi Germany, well served by a clear and fluid style. Born in 1948, former student of the Ecole Normale supérieure with an agrégation in history, in the past twenty years François Delpla has produced about ten works on the Second World War and Naziism, including Churchill et Hitler (Tempus, 2013).
6 NOVEMBER 2014 450 pp.
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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GENERAL HISTORY BATTLES THAT CHANGED HISTORY Arnaud BLIN Through eleven accounts of epic confrontations, from Antiquity to th the 20 century, from Persia to Mexico, an extraordinary history of decisive battles and how they changed the world
11 SEPTEMBER 2014 400 pp.
The stories of «great battles», whether Greek, Roman, Chinese, Persian, English or French, has long been a coveted genre among classical historians. But their main interest has centered upon «great war leaders» such as Alexander, Frederic, or Napoleon. Arnaud Blin takes an entirely different approach: without forgetting the major figures, he concentrates upon the entirety of the battle, from the role of the foot soldier to that of the general, from the question of weapons to that of morale, without neglecting the political, religious, and social dimensions of the conflict. In this approach, the author emphasizes the fundamentally heterogenous character of great military confrontations at the heart of the history of war—in other words, the clash between radically different cultures, countries, peoples or armies, the most striking example being the conflict between Gengis Khan’s nomads and the sedentary Arabs in th the 7 century. The battle of Zama (202 B.C.) saw Rome and Carthage fight for the control of the Mediterranean. At Hattin, in 1187, Crusades faced Moslems, opposed in every way, in a battle that ended the Crusades’ dreams of reconquering the Holy Land. At Tenochtitlan (1519), Cortés sealed the destiny of Aztec civilization. From the battles of Gaugamela (331 B.C.), the Catalaunian Plains (451), Ain Jalut (1260), Lepanto (1571), Lutzen (1632), Borodino (1812) and Stalingrad (1942), there was no turning back. This is a very different history of war, as seen through its decisive battles. Specialist on the history of war and of strategy, Arnaud Blin is the author of several critically acclaimed works, including Iéna (Perrin, 2003), 1648, La paix de Westphalie (Editions Complexe, 2006), Tamerlan (Perrin, 2007) and, with Gérard Chaliand, a Dictionnaire de stratégie militaire (Perrin, 1998). Quite apart from his excellence as a historian, he is a great story teller.
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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GENERAL HISTORY WHITE HOUSE SECRETS Nicole BACHARAN and Dominique SIMONNET An enthralling narrative, written like a thriller, revealing the hidden face of American power. The behind-the-scenes history of how American presidents used and abused their power. Based on recently declassified documents, this text reveals the astonishing secrets of the Oval Office.
25 SEPTEMBER 2014 300 pp.
This is where wars were launched, dirty tricks organized, and the fate of millions decided. This is where men at least tried to save the world, and sometimes succeeded. Considering the impact of its decisions, the White House is among the most important places on the planet and, most assuredly, one of the most secret. Delving into the sources, including confidential papers and recordings of private conversations in the Oval Office, the authors reveal the background story of some of History’s key events. How Thomas Jefferson acted to pull the wool over Napoleon’s eyes, without the knowledge of Congress; why Abraham Lincoln sought to pressure the slaves to go into exile; how, early in the 20th century, a woman governed in the shadows; how Franklin Delano Roosevelt covertly committed himself to participation in the Second World War; the discreet negotiations that convinced Harry Truman to recognize the State of Israel; the degree to which the world came close to an all-out nuclear conflict; Ronald Reagan’s secret pact with Pope John-Paul II; how Barack Obama began a clandestine war worldwide, distributing, every week, permits to kill. Nicole Bacharan is a historian, political scientist, and Research Fellow at the Hoover Institute of Stanford University. She is the author of several works on the United States and is often solicited as a commentator on French television and radio. Dominique Simonnet is a writer, journalist, and former Editor in Chief of l’Express, as well as the author of about twenty novels and essays. They co-authored 11-Septembre, le jour du chaos (Perrin), 20.000 copies sold.
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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GENERAL HISTORY WHITE HOUSE SECRETS Preface: When the Walls Begin to Speak Chapter 1: Thomas Jefferson’s Trick (1802) How Thomas Jefferson secretly thwarted Bonaparte’s plans to extend his empire in America and, without the knowledge of the American Congress, doubled the surface of the United States in one fell swoop. Chapter 2: Abraham Lincoln’s About-face (1862-1865) How, far from his legend, Abraham Lincoln planned to expel the slaves of America to Africa and Central America and then, confronted with the dreadful Civil War, finally resolved to emancipate them. Chapter 3: The Shadow President (Woodrow Wilson, 1919) How the First Lady secretly took power and governed behind the scenes at the White House, while the American people and their representatives remained in the dark. Chapter 4: Franklin Roosevelt’s Rendez-vous at Sea (1941) How Franklin D. Roosevelt covertly committed himself to fighting the Second World War well before the official declaration, without the knowledge of the American people. Chapter 5: The Little Man from Israel (Harry Truman, 1948) How and with whom Harry Truman conducted discreet negotiations in the Oval Office, before recognizing the State of Israel. Chapter 6: John Kennedy’s Gamble (1962) How President John F. Kennedy prepared for World War III, nonetheless unaware of certain capital information. Chapter 7: Richard Nixon’s Secret Organization (1974) More serious than Watergate, how President Richard Nixon transformed the White House into the headquarters of a criminal network and was caught in his own trap. Chapter 8: Ronald Reagan’s Secret Alliance (1981) How Reagan made a secret pact with Pope John Paul II to end the Cold War and dissolve the Soviet Union. Chapter 9: Bill Clinton’s Little Foibles (1998-1999) How Bill Clinton fell into the trap of an ultraconservative plot, the goal of which was to cause his impeachment and removal from office. Chapter 10: Barack Obama’s Hidden Soldiers (2008-2011) How Barack Obama pursued undeclared wars and organized the tracking of Al Qaeda.
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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GENERAL HISTORY A HISTORY OF BERLIN Philippe MEYER A new history of Berlin that allows the reader to understand the city through the great events that established it as the eternal capital of Germany
11 SEPTEMBER 2014 368 pp.
This is a history of Berlin as an extraordinary human adventure, the knowledge of which casts light upon that of contemporary Europe. The history of the city is also that of a great people who acquired an immense and remarkable culture which influenced the past of nearly all of Germany. Berlin was successively a Slavic backwater, then a German town built upon arid land, one that owed its survival to trade and to the indomitable will of the noble family to whom the German emperors granted the city itself and the surrounding area of the province of Brandenburg. This family, the Hohenzollerns, fought their way up the aristocratic ladder, successively as margraves, PrinceElectors, Grand Electors, kings of Prussia, and, ultimately, emperors of Germany. At the same time, the town of Berlin became their capital and that of the vast regions they gradually accumulated, extending from the Baltic territories of Memel all the way to the former Roman domains of the Rhineland, and from the North Sea and the Baltic all the way to the source of the Danube. In 1918, the Second Reich crumbled with the abdication of Wilhelm II. Thus began the tragic saga of Berlin, marked by the Nazi regime, the subsequent destruction of the city in 1945, and its separation into Eastern Soviet and Western democratic sectors, embodied in the notorious Berlin Wall. The fall of the wall led to the reunification of Germany and restored Berlin’s international aura. Philippe Meyer’s works published by Perrin include L’Or du Rhin, histoire d’un fleuve and Baltiques (2011).
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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GENERAL HISTORY REMAINING JEWISH Yaël HIRSCH Can one really decide to no longer be a Jew? And, beyond that, can one’s identity be changed? A new, in-depth reflection on the th “Jewish Question” in the 20 century.
6 NOVEMBER 2014 220 p.
With The Invention of the Jewish People in 2008, Shlomo Sand stimulated further reflection on the «Jewish question”. By examining the choice of identity of about thirty major European intellectuals who th sought to convert from Judaïsm to Christianity in the 20 century, this is a work of a similar nature. Its underlying theme is a fruitful reflection on the essential values of our societies, in terms of identity, tolerance, and the place of minorities. For the paths of Henri Bergson, Simone Weil, Jean-Marie Lustiger, Max Jacob, Edith Stein and Etty Hillesum and their conversions cast a blinding light on the essence of European societies. It seems that, regardless of how far they were from their Jewish religious roots, no matter how strong their Christian convictions, all of these thinkers continued to feel Jewish. Since the desire to choose one’s own path is a common impulse among so many of us, tracing the individual and atypical trajectories of illustrious converts offers insight into an understanding of why Jews remain Jews. Even when they are completely detached from the religion, European societies incessantly continue to refer to their Jewishness, and hence to their otherness. Their very being therefore questions the capacity of a society to tolerate difference. Yaël Hirsch holds a doctorate in political science and teaches at Sciences Po in Paris. Her doctoral thesis examined the question of the conversion of Jews to Christianity. She is also director of the Toutes la culture cultural site (100,000 hits per month).
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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GENERAL HISTORY THE RED DYNASTY Pascal DAYEZ-BURGEON The history of the world’s only “communist monarchy” and of its three sovereign/dictators: Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un of North Korea
16 OCTOBER 2014 320 pp.
In December 2011, Kim Jong-un succeeded his father Kim Jong-il, the latter having, himself, stepped into the shoes of his late father Kim Ilsung in July, 1994, as the new master of Pyongyang. Kim Jong-un’s instant rise to the State’s highest office is living proof that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is, more than ever, the first Red absolute monarchy in history. Such an absurd contradiction would be fascinating were it not that North Korea is also one of the most merciless and dangerous regimes on the face of the planet. Without a doubt, order reigns in Pyongyang, but only due to a regime based on terrorism and concentration camps, one that has never hesitated to starve the North Korean people in order to arm itself with nuclear weapons designed to threaten world peace. The first biography of the three Kims who have unilaterally imposed their respective wills and fancies for three quarters of a century, this book, based upon the most rigorous sources, explains how North Korea has come to this, between endemic violence, perverted ideals, exacerbated nationalism, frenzied absolutism, and generalized terror. The essential and inescapable question of «voluntary servitude» is a constant throughout: are the slaves of the Kim dynasty condemned to live in chains forever? Agrégé in history, former student of the ENA, and diplomat, Pascal Dayez-Burgeon knows Korea intimately, having been France’s representative there from 2001 to 2006. Already the author of Les Coréens (Tallandier, 2011), he is also currently assistant director of the Institut des sciences de la communication of the CNRS.
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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BIOGRAPHIES PÉTAIN Bénédicte VERGEZ-CHAIGNON The first French biography of Pétain to appear in thirty years Our knowledge of Marshal Pétain (1856-1951) is often summed up in Verdun, Vichy, his rivalry with de Gaulle, his commuted death sentence, and his reputation as a ladies’ man. This, however, is an in-depth biography which incorporates several new elements and brings a new perspective to the extraordinary and steady rise of an individual who retained his part of mystery. Pétain the orphan was a young man who loved sports, studies, and teaching. August 1914 transformed his destiny. In four years, the colonel on the verge of retirement became head of the French army (while continuing an active love life on the side). Thus began his unique relationship with the French people, which would continue until the summer of 1944 and beyond. The author’s evolving political, military, intellectual, physical and psychological portrait of this controversial figure is strikingly different from the limited dimensions of the traditional perception of Pétain. 28 AUGUST 2014 1050 pp.
By the same author : Les Français au quotidien : 15.000 copies sold
Bénédicte Vergez-Chaignon holds a doctorate in history from the Institut d’Études politiques of Paris. Her work on the Second World War began with her collaboration with Daniel Cordier on his monumental biography of Jean Moulin from 1989 to 1999. She is the author of a biography of Pétain’s physician and private secretary, Dr Bernard Ménétrel (Perrin, 2002), and has written a history of Les Vichystorésistants (Perrin, 2008), those who found in Pétain the inspiration for their commitment to resist the Nazis. She has also written several works on the post-war épuration as well as a book on the daily life of the French in the 1940s, co-authored with Eric Alary (Perrin, 2006).
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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BIOGRAPHIES LOUIS XV Jean-Christian PETITFILS A remarkable reign of great contrasts, a secretive personality, reevaluated by the finest biographer of the kings of modern France
6 NOVEMBER 2014 800 pp.
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The biography of REFERENCE
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The commercial and critical success of the author
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Widely covered by the press and other media
At the age of five, in 1715, the last surviving descendant of Louis XIV and succeeds his great-grandfather, in dramatic Marie-Thérèse circumstances, both for the family and the nation. After the regency of Philippe d’Orléans and the ministry of the aged Cardinal de Fleury, Louis XV finally assumes his duties, with all the reluctance typical of a temperament inclined to flee responsibility. He is still the Beloved, the handsomest man in France. At loggerheads with the Jansenists and the Parlements within France, in conflict with Austria, then Prussia and England abroad, the King confronts seemingly overwhelming events with intelligence and, sometimes, authority, as France and its neighbors change immeasurably in a mere half century. Whatever their actual role, the «favorites»-- his successive mistresses at Court--marked the image of the Very Christian monarch, constantly under pressure from various cliques in his entourage. And yet, in a century when the mind of the public is in a state of rapid evolution, when new ideas abound, Louis XV remains the most prestigious sovereign of Europe, with Versailles the incomparable, dazzling center of his Court. All this until his death in 1774, but at this time, after a 59-year long reign, the monarchy seems solid and stable, despite the clouds that have begun to appear on the horizon. With this work, Jean-Christian Petitfils closes the biographical cycle of the four Louis who reigned over France from 1610 until 1792. Long awaited for and unchallenged, his Louis XV, fruit of exhaustive research and well served by a limpid style, is the crowning achievement of an endeavor begun over twenty years ago and establishes him definitively as the finest connoisseur of the Ancien Régime in France.
By the same author : Louis XIV: 90.000 copies sold Louis XVI: 80.000 copies sold Louis XIII: 40.000 copies sold
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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BIOGRAPHIES ADMIRAL HORTHY Catherine HOREL Admiral Horthy’s life story (1868-1957) merges with the history of Hungary during the inter-war period. How could a man who had an unremarkable career as a naval officer of the Austro-Hungarian Empire ultimately leave such an indelible mark on the history of his country and that of Europe?
4 SEPTEMBER 2014 480 pp.
This work presents an analysis unbiased by political considerations, thus filling an important historiographical gap.
The Horthy regime that governed Hungary from 1920 to 1944 was no doubt authoritarian and reactionary in many ways, but it was a far cry from the fascism of Italy and Germany. The circumstances that led to its taking power in 1919 are put back into perspective here, notably with a re-evaluation of the role played by the Allies. A good part of the work is devoted to the political specificity of this regime. Horthy was no ideologist, and even less a charismatic leader. Did he imagine he would re-establish royalty in being crowned regent or by passing power on to his son? A Calvinist, Horthy emphasized traditional Christian and, paradoxically, rather Catholic values. Though his image was omnipresent, he did not impose a personality cult. The years that led to the Second World War, which Hungary entered only in 1941, were dominated by his hostility towards the USSR and by the Jewish question, and here, once again, we must examine the ambiguous role Horthy played. He consented to the adoption of antisemitic legislation, but he frankly opposed the deportations that began when the Germans entered the country in March, 1944 and refused to deport the Jews of Budapest. This, among other reasons, saved him from being indicted before the Nuremberg tribunal. A last question explored in this work: how did Horthy arrive at his home in exile in Portugal, where he died in February, 1957? A researcher at the CNRS from 1995 to 2006, research director since then (UMR IRICE, Université de Paris I), Catherine Horel is a specialist on Central Europe. Her works include, notably, Cette Europe qu’on dit centrale. Des Habsbourg à l’intégration européenne, 1815-2004 (Beauchesne, 2009) and a Histoire de Budapest (Fayard, 1999).
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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BIOGRAPHIES QUEEN ZENOBIA Annie and Maurice SARTRE A legendary figure whose true story, finally reconstituted, is no less extraordinary than the myth.
2 OCTOBER 2014 352 pp.
Like Cleopatra, Queen Zenobia is that sovereign of Antiquity whose myth has ensured her fame. No matter that the Palmyran Empire, a Roman citadel, never actually existed, or that we know very little about the life of its supposed queen. It is nonetheless true that, for a few rd years during the 3 century A.D., this woman politician, who did not have a male partner, played an important role during the period when Syria was caught between Rome’s wobbling power and the military pressure of the Sassanid Persians. Her dominant presence in the Middle East made her self-appointment as empress almost natural; surrounded by a brilliant court of extensive influence, for a while she made Palmyra one of the centers of power and intelligence. After the destruction of Palmyra in 273, she rapidly became a legend, both in Western literary and artistic tradition and in Arab historiography. The authors examine different aspects of the figure of Zenobia, the political and cultural environment she lived in and helped to shape, and the ancient and multi-faceted exploitation of her myth. Maurice Sartre is a professor emeritus of Ancient history at the Université de Tours. First president of the scientific council of the Rendez-vous de l’histoire of Blois, he is a member of the editorial committee of the review L’Histoire. An editor of the body of Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, he is the author of D’Alexandrie à Zénobie. Histoire du Levant antique (Fayard, 2001), Histoires grecques (Seuil, 2006) and, with his wife and co-author Annie Sartre, Palmyre, la cité des caravanes (Gallimard, 2008). Annie Sartre is a professor of Ancient history at the Université d’Artois and a specialist on the Middle East and on the study and interpretation of ancient Greek inscriptions. Her work concentrates in particular on funereal monuments and prominent figures of ancient Syria.
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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BIOGRAPHIES THEODOSIUS Bertrand LANÇON A little-known and controversial ruler, the last «great» emperor of Roman Antiquity, resituated in the context of his times and his own truth.
9 OCTOBER 2014 300 pp.
The author’s audacious thesis is that Theodosius abandoned the religious powers traditionally held by Roman emperors since Augustus, thereby creating the sketchy beginnings of a distinct relationship between emperor and bishops based upon their respective roles and the embryon of the separation of Church and State.
Theodosius was a Spanish military commander who ruled over the Eastern Roman Empire for fifteen years (379-395) while retaining tutelary authority over the Western Empire from 383 to 395. He was the first reigning Roman emperor to have been baptized as a Catholic Christian (as defined by the Council of Nicea of 325). The portrait of Theodosius most current today is one crafted by the ideologies of his descendants, who offer two very different images. For some, he is Theodosius the Great—the title granted him at the Council of Chalcedon in 451—for he is the emperor who had the temples closed and put an end to the pagan cults, who punished apostates and those who opposed Nicean Catholicism as heretics. All this he accomplished along with his victory over the barbarians and usurpers of the Empire. For others, he is the autocratic emperor who put an end to the religious freedom established by Constantine in the Edict of Milan of 313, who, in successive edicts, silenced the Romans who were not Catholics, and a bloodthirsty emperor at that. Theodosius was no doubt at the inception of Catholicism’s establishment as the Roman State religion. But the image of the emperor bound, even hampered, by his baptism in his exercise of power, who did his best to find a political means of coexistence with the bishops, the man at the head of an empire experiencing an unprecedented intellectual flowering, is overshadowed by this fact. And, beyond religious considerations, his role as a Spaniard, a general and son of a general, a victorious military leader who restored peace with the Persians and the barbarians through diplomacy, has remained in the background too. Bertrand Lançon, a professor of Roman history at the Université de Limoges, is the author of several works on late Antiquity, notably a biography of Constantine (Armand Colin, 2012).
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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BIOGRAPHIES ISABELLA The Catholic Marie-France SCHMIDT An exemplary sovereign whose political and administrative work, thereafter continued and developed by Charles V, would lend an entirely new dimension to Spain.
23 OCTOBER 2014 350 pp.
Isabella the Catholic (1451-1504), one of the most famous queens of Spain, was not destined to occupy the throne. Only after a long civil war with her half-brother Henry IV and the death of her older brother Alphonse did she legitimately accede to power in Castille in 1474. She had not been prepared to assume such power, yet she exercised it with an authority and competence recognized by all, transforming her country into one of the most powerful in the world. Her marriage to Ferdinand, heir to the kingdom of Aragon, was significant in furthering her plans and ambitions. The couple, known to history as the Catholic Kings, enjoyed an immense aura. But Isabella the Catholic’s foremost ambition was to unify the Spanish States politically and religiously in a smooth transition to form a single nation. Isabella introduced Spain to modernity, not only with administrative reform, but also by opening the country up to international commerce. Spain emerged from isolation and began to trade, not only with European countries, but soon with the lands of an unknown world. She was determined to give Spain an international stature and to create a counterbalance to the hegemony of France. Her successor, Charles V, would take up and develop this project, making Spain the most powerful country in the world. By the time of Isabella the Catholic’s death, a new Spain had been born, no longer withdrawn but increasingly dominant and intent upon fully assuming its role in the concert of European nations. Agrégé in Spanish, honorary lecturer in Spanish studies at the Université de Paris IV Sorbonne, among Marie-France Schmidt’s works are Ignace de Loyola (Editions du Rocher, 2000), La Duchesse d’Albe (Albin Michel, 2002), Goya (Folio, 2009), Isabelle II d’Espagne (Pygmalion, 2011) and Christophe Colomb (Folio, 2011).
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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BIOGRAPHIES BENEDICT XV Yves CHIRON The Pope of peace
6 NOVEMBER 2014 350 pp.
Benedict XV, of the prophetic name (Giacomo Della Chiesa), became rd pope at a crucial moment of history, on September 3 , 1914. Universally praised at his death in 1922, he was unjustifiably forgotten thereafter. During the Great War, his voice rose above the melée. Contrary to flourishing patriotic exaltations and battle fervor, he alone called the conflict a «horrible slaughter that dishonors Europe”, “the suicide of civilized Europe”. Not content to simply deplore it, he did his best to stop it through humanitarian actions on behalf of the populations of both opposing camps. Most governments misread this impartiality: Clemenceau called him the «pape boche» (“Boche pope”), and German General Ludendorff referred to him as the “französisch Papst” (“French pope”). After the war, he had great plans marked by a vision of the long-term. He felt that the national minorities of Europe should not be humiliated, and he contended that the Armenians, to whom he had extended all assistance in his power during the genocide of 1915, deserved their own State. He supported local rather than imported culture for the mission countries, in line with his desire to see them eventually establish autonomous churches. The author has closely examined many archival sources (in particular the secret Vatican archives and the French diplomatic archives) and refers extensively to the diary of Carlo Monti, an Italian civil servant and childhood friend of Benedict XV. Received at the Vatican on 175 occasions, after each audience Monti scrupulously noted the content of his conversations with the Pope. Yves Chiron, director of the Dictionnaire de biographie française, is a specialist on the modern papacy. His biographies of Pious IX (Editions Clovis, 1995), Pious XI (Via Romana, 2013), and Paul VI (Via Romana, 2008) have been translated into several languages.
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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BIOGRAPHIES MARIE-ANTOINETTE André CASTELOT The benchmark of Marie Antoinette, a global best seller for over a half century André Castelot’s Marie-Antoinette is not only the greatest of his innumerable successes but undoubtedly remains the best seller of all biographies, regardless of period or personality. Nearly a million copies have been sold in bookstores, to which one must add its amazing success in English translation (450,000 copies sold). The precision, the clarity, the erudition and the very lively style of this great writer of history have made this work a classic and a reference, undeniably of lasting topicality and interest. André Castelot (1911-2004) is the author of several successful biographies including Henri IV (2005, last edition), Napoléon Bonaparte (1997, last edition), La reine Margot (1999, last edition), Marie de Médicis (1999, last edition), Madame de Maintenon (1996), and Diane, Henri et Catherine(1997), all published by Perrin.
9 NOVEMBER 2014 588 pp. New Edition
By the same author : L’Aiglon : 170.000 copies sold Talleyrand: 80.000 copies sold
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Immense interest in Marie-Antoinette on the part of a broad public
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A proven and absolute best seller, always in demand
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The biography of REFERENCE, along with that of Stefan Zweig
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Castelot is a bestselling author
Napoléon Bonaparte : 45.000 copies sold
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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BIOGRAPHIES CAROLINE BONAPARTE Florence de BAUDUS Napoleon in the feminine. The biography of Napoleon’s sister
13 NOVEMBER 2014 400 pp.
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An actual rehabilitation, in no way resembling a hagiography
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Use of sources that have never before been exploited, notably the archives of Naples.
Grande Duchesse of Berg in 1806, Queen of Naples two years later, Caroline Bonaparte, Napoleon’s youngest sister, played an active role at the side of her husband, Murat, whom she married in 1800. After Murat left in a futile attempt to join the Emperor during the Hundred Days, she did all she could to stay in power but was finally forced into exile by the Allies. Posterity has dealt with her cruelly, and historians picture her as ambitious and egotistical. Setting all judgment aside, the author guides us through the dazzling ascension of Caroline and her family, all the way through their equally meteoric fall. In contrast to her sisters and brothers, Caroline married for love, and the union lasted. Gifted with true political intelligence, she was the one who was most like Napoleon, which is the reason she finally opposed him. She wanted to be queen, and she assumed the position with a seriousness, wisdom, and authority her brothers never possessed. She wanted to remain queen—in such an incomparable context, why shouldn’t she have wished it? For the twenty-four years following her husband’s execution and the loss of her kingdom, she lived very quietly, obeying the will of the Austrian victor, but fighting to save the inheritance of her four children. During this period, Caroline had to confront her relations with her family, their problems of inheritance, the persecution of the French, Spanish and Neapolitan sovereigns which prevented them from moving freely about Europe, and her worries as a mother, knowing that her sons were far from her and capable of getting into trouble. She demonstrated exemplary courage during the long illness that finally cost her her life, continuing to charm the finest of Florentine society that flocked to her salon. Florence de Baudus, author of several works, whose ancestor was tutor to Queen Caroline’s sons, consulted family papers as well as documents from national and diplomatic archives, in particular Caroline’s often unpublished correspondence, in order to create a portrait that differs considerably from those based on popular assumptions.
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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MASTERS OF WAR COLLECTION MACARTHUR François KERSAUDY The lastest title of the successful Maîtres de Guerre (Masters of War) collection and the first biography of the most eccentric of American officers, General Douglas MacArthur.
25 SEPTEMBER 2014 300 pp.
· The works of François Kersaudy are best sellers of history · “Maîtres de Guerre” is a well-known and widely-followed collection, with between 5.000 to 8.000 copies sold per title · Over 100 illustrations, some of them previously unpublished
We can count the great strategists of the Second World War on the fingers of one hand. The first two are incontestably Admiral Nimitz and General MacArthur, the latter far and away the most eccentric and flamboyant. In 1918, he was already a general on the Western front in France, accompanying troops in a moppingup operation in the trenches wearing a two-meter-long mauve scarf his mother had knit and armed solely with a swagger stick. Three decades later, at the summit of the military hierarchy during the Korean War, he commanded the United Nations troops of fifteen countries and was a proponent of using the atomic weapon on the Chinese. In the interim, this great and suicidally courageous leader was in charge of the conquest of Japan in the South Pacific and subsequently brilliantly organized the country’s rehabilitation as a modern State. Emperor Hiro Hito himself remarked, “Admiral Perry opened the gates of Japan to America, and General MacArthur opened the heart of America to Japan.” A firebrand at war, a genius of strategy with an impossible character and an execrable politician, a benevolent autocrat and a subtle diplomat, Douglas MacArthur th soared through the first half of the 20 century like a meteor, leaving his own indelible imprint on its three major wars. François Kersaudy has taught at Oxford University and the Université de Paris I. His special field is the Second World War, of which he is a renowned historian. He is also an accomplished biographer, with Hermann Goering (Perrin, 2009), Hitler (Perrin, 2011), among other works, to his credit. His latest book, Les Secrets du IIIe Reich (Perrin, 2013), has sold over 16,000 copies.
By the same author: Les Secrets du IIIe Reich: 20.000 copies sold Hermann Goering : 20.000 copies sold
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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MASTERS OF WAR COLLECTION
MASTERS OF WAR COLLECTION A highly illustrated series that looks at major historical figures of the twentieth century in their role as military leaders. The photographs and maps directly accompany the texts all written by specialists of military history.
HITLER
STALINE François KERSAUDY
François KERSAUDY
May 2011 – 265 pp.
May 2012 – 275 pp.
Rights sold to : · Lebanon (Jarrous) · China (Beijing Hanbook) · Czech Republic (Brana)
9.000 COPIES SOLD
7.000 COPIES SOLD
PATTON
VON MANSTEIN Pierre SERVENT
Yannis KADARI
May 2011 – 240 pp.
May 2013 – 280 pp.
Rights sold to : China (Beijing Hanbook)
Rights sold to : China (Beijing Hanbook)
7.000 COPIES SOLD
5.000 COPIES SOLD
May 2014 – 280 pp. MONTGOMERY Antoine CAPET
NEW BOOK
____________________________________________________ Foreign rights contact : Rebecca Byers : rebecca.byers@edi8.fr Perrin : 12, avenue d’Italie – 75013 Paris, France. Tel : +33 (0) 1 44 16 08 90
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