Through French Windows: An Introduction to France in the Nineties

Scholar Corbett digs beneath the surface of cliches and stereotypes about France to reveal the naked realities of a country whose modernity has been overshadowed by myth and misrepresentation. France in the '90s, maintains Corbett, is more than a fetching synonym for romance, rich living and cultural heritage. Instead it is in the European vanguard of such things as technological excellence and state-funded AIDS research. Corbett purposefully steers away from French literature, music and arts, focusing on the country's economic, political and social underpinnings. The result is iconoclastic and rewarding. In his attempts to provide an objective overview of French contemporary life, Corbett masterfully weaves together statistics, surveys, demographics and reports through accessible writing and a somewhat inconsistent wit. In his chapter on the sexual revolution, Corbett cites several surveys on the sexual behavior of French teenagers (who are not as promiscuous as many think) and surmises craftily that ``Love is one of the main values of young people according to all the surveys--but that is hardly a major discovery.'' Comparisons between France and the United States are frequent and enriching if unevenly distributed, but this is a minor faux-pas in a globally informative work. (Apr.)