MACRON BRAND SAID TO BE TOXIC 2024: 1/4 Revolution Française: Emmanuel Macron and the quest to reinvent a nation, by Sophie Pedder. Hardcover – August 14, 2018
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 30 June 2024
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
He emerged from nowhere to seize the presidency, defeat populism and upend French party politics. Who is Emmanuel Macron? How far can he really change France?
In Revolution Française, Sophie Pedder examines the first year in office of France's youngest and most exciting president in modern times, with unique perspective from her time as head of The Economist's Paris bureau. President Emmanuel Macron's vision for France is far more radical than many realize. His remarkable ascent from obscurity to the presidency is both a dramatic story of personal ambition and the tale of a wounded once-proud country in deep need of renewal. What shaped this enigmatic character, the precociously bright student and talented networker from northern France; the philosophy graduate and Rothschild banker who married his school drama teacher? How did a political outsider manage to defy the unwritten rules of the Fifth Republic and secure the presidency at his first attempt? And what are the underlying ideas behind his vision?
This book chronicles Macron's remarkable rise from independent outsider to the Élysée Palace, situating the achievement in a broader context: France's slide into self-doubt, political gridlock and a seeming reluctance to embrace change; the roots of populism and discontent; the fractures caused by globalization and the Le Pen factor. Looking back on the young president's dramatic first year in power, with analysis of his key reforms and lofty ambitions, it asks how far it is possible for Macron to reinvent a conservative nation uneasy about embracing the future. Can the man nicknamed 'Jupiter' really return France to its former greatness, or will he, by the time his mandate expires, end up as just another side note in political history? Punctuated with first-hand conversations and reporting, this book takes on all of these questions, concluding with a fascinating and exclusive interview with Macron recorded in early 2018. Pedder's riveting, and essential, book will be one of the most captivating political books of this year.
1783 ANCIEN REGIME
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a B.S. I on the world. Here's John Bachelor. |
| 0:11.0 | Professor Nicholas Thomas, Professor of Historical Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, |
| 0:15.4 | Director of the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, to help me with his new book, |
| 0:21.4 | Wonderful story about the Pacific Rim Basin, where I have been several |
| 0:26.6 | times in my life ignorant of the questions I didn't know existed, about where this wonderful culture came from that I visited in Hawaii, |
| 0:35.0 | where it's going, now in the 21st century given its history. |
| 0:40.0 | The new book is Voyager's, |
| 0:42.0 | the settlement of the Pacific. |
| 0:44.0 | Professor, a very good evening to you. |
| 0:46.0 | Thank you very much. |
| 0:47.0 | Congratulations. |
| 0:48.0 | And I take you to a moment in your explication of the vastness of this landscape called Oceania. |
| 0:56.0 | This is, I believe, 1821, a missionary, John Williams, is deploying Christianity throughout the islands, the Cook Group if I read correctly. |
| 1:09.0 | And at one point he comes across a chief, Rongo Matani, who offers to demonstrate to him how to sail to the |
| 1:17.1 | next point where he wants to go. |
| 1:20.1 | And herein lies the secret of the vast voyages across the Oceania. |
| 1:25.0 | What do we need to know about what Rongo Matani told John Williams that he recorded so |
| 1:30.8 | dutifully in the early 19th century. |
| 1:33.3 | Good evening, Professor. |
| 1:35.7 | Good evening, and it's a pleasure to talk to you. |
| 1:38.4 | And John Williams himself was actually a fascinating character. |
| 1:41.8 | I mean, people often think missionaries must be narrow-minded dogmatic just out |
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