UK Pub Date: 4 Sept 2015
US Pub Date: 12 Oct 2015

In the wake of the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris on 7 January 2015, millions took to the streets to demonstrate their revulsion and reaffirm the ideals of the French Republic: liberté, égalité, fraternité. But who were the millions of demonstrators who were suddenly united under the single cry of ‘Je suis Charlie’?

In this probing new book, Emmanuel Todd investigates the cartography and sociology of the millions who marched and draws some unsettling conclusions. While they claimed to support liberal, republican values, Todd argues, the real middle classes who marched on that day had a very different programme in mind. Their deep values were in fact more reminiscent of the most depressing aspects of France’s national history: conservatism, selfishness, domination and inequality.

By identifying the forces that brought France to the edge of the abyss, Todd reveals the real dangers posed to all western societies when the interests of a privileged middle classes work against marginalised and immigrant groups. While asking uncomfortable questions and offering no easy solutions, Todd points to the difficult and uncertain path that might lead to an accommodation with Islam.

EMMANUEL TODD is a French historian, anthropologist, demographer, sociologist and political scientist at the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED), in Paris.

The book published in French in May 2015 and has caused widespread discussion in the French media. See links to coverage below.