Marc Ferro

This is a book for anyone interested in history, what it is and where it comes from. Engaging and challenging, it confronts us with the many "histories" that exist and have existed around the world, from the Zulu kingdoms to Communist China. The Use and Abuse of History takes as its starting point the way history is taught to children. The different narratives that constitute the histories of countries as diverse as India, Iran, Trinidad and the United States make for fascinating reading in their own right. What makes this book so valuable, though, is what these narratives tell us about the societies which created them--how much is history distorted in order to condition the minds of those who are taught it? A pioneer in its field that has become a key text of contemporary historiography, this is a book that poses fundamental and disturbing questions about the use and abuse of history.

Onze questions font l'objet d'une mise au point: 1.L'entrée en guerre: esprit public et cinéma 2. Pétain-Laval: mythe et réalité du double jeu 3. La rupture du Pacte germano-soviétique 4. Les communistes français et leur entrée en résistance 5. Les origines de Pearl Harbor 6. Quand s'est produit le tournant de la guerre 7. Typologie de la collaboration 8. Les enjeux de la Résistance 9. L'extermination des Juifs: qui savait et quoi 10. Le dilemne des peuples colonisés 11. Fascisme, nazisme et totalitarisme