France at the End of History: The Politics of Culture in Contemporary French Historiography

Discusses the decline of the French Annales school historiography project, noting its loss of coherence as an intellectual movement. While French historiography today focuses on the use of collective memory for historical inquiry & rhetorical figures in historical writing, the field's reflexive turn tackles the broader issue of the conceptualization of historical time. Current issues include the debate about prophesying the future (ie, today's time marks the "end of history"); the "Vichy syndrome," where WWII-era political questions reemerge; & the preoccupation with the present, as the center of all reflections on past & future. J. Sadler