The Dreyfus Affair

The Scandal That Tore France in Two

Nonfiction, History, France, Jewish
Cover of the book The Dreyfus Affair by Piers Paul Read, Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Piers Paul Read ISBN: 9781608195084
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Publication: March 20, 2012
Imprint: Bloomsbury Press Language: English
Author: Piers Paul Read
ISBN: 9781608195084
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication: March 20, 2012
Imprint: Bloomsbury Press
Language: English

July 20, 1894. The German Military Attache in Paris. Colonel Maximillien von Schwarzkoppen received a visit from a seedy-looking middle-aged Frenchman who would not give his name. He told Schwarzkoppen that he was a French army officer serving on the General Staff; that he was in desperate need of money; and was therefore prepared to sell military secrets to the Germans.

Captain Alfred Dreyfus, then aged 35, was a high-flying career artillery officer. Shy, reserved, sometimes awkward, but intelligent and ambitious, Dreyfus had everything he might have hoped for: a wife, two enchanting children, plenty of money and a post on the General Staff. However, Dreyfus' rise in the army had not made him friends. Many of them came from the impoverished Catholic aristocracy and disliked Dreyfus because he was rich, bourgeois and, above all, a Jew.

On October 13, Captain Dreyfus was summoned by the General de Boisdeffre to the Ministry of War. Despite minimal evidence against him he was placed under arrest for the crime of high treason. Not long afterwards Dreyfus was incarcerated on Devil's Island.

But how did an innocent man come to be convicted? And why was he kept locked up for so long?

The Dreyfus Affair uniquely combines a fast-moving mystery story with a snapshot of France at a moment of great social flux and cultural richness - the Belle Epoque, the Impressionists, novelists such as Flaubert, Zola, the Goncourts, Proust. It is a key to an understanding of later history; the Holocaust and Zionism: the virulent anti-Semitism of the anti-Dreyfusards and the decision that the Jews must have a state of their own.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

July 20, 1894. The German Military Attache in Paris. Colonel Maximillien von Schwarzkoppen received a visit from a seedy-looking middle-aged Frenchman who would not give his name. He told Schwarzkoppen that he was a French army officer serving on the General Staff; that he was in desperate need of money; and was therefore prepared to sell military secrets to the Germans.

Captain Alfred Dreyfus, then aged 35, was a high-flying career artillery officer. Shy, reserved, sometimes awkward, but intelligent and ambitious, Dreyfus had everything he might have hoped for: a wife, two enchanting children, plenty of money and a post on the General Staff. However, Dreyfus' rise in the army had not made him friends. Many of them came from the impoverished Catholic aristocracy and disliked Dreyfus because he was rich, bourgeois and, above all, a Jew.

On October 13, Captain Dreyfus was summoned by the General de Boisdeffre to the Ministry of War. Despite minimal evidence against him he was placed under arrest for the crime of high treason. Not long afterwards Dreyfus was incarcerated on Devil's Island.

But how did an innocent man come to be convicted? And why was he kept locked up for so long?

The Dreyfus Affair uniquely combines a fast-moving mystery story with a snapshot of France at a moment of great social flux and cultural richness - the Belle Epoque, the Impressionists, novelists such as Flaubert, Zola, the Goncourts, Proust. It is a key to an understanding of later history; the Holocaust and Zionism: the virulent anti-Semitism of the anti-Dreyfusards and the decision that the Jews must have a state of their own.

More books from Bloomsbury Publishing

Cover of the book Geographers by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book Shaping the Single European Market in the Field of Foreign Direct Investment by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book The Honeymoon Sisters by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book Becoming a Successful Graphic Designer by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book The Islands of the Eastern Mediterranean by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book Early Aegean Warrior 5000–1450 BC by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book Konflikt ’47 by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book The If Machine, 2nd edition by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book Wilfrid Sellars, Idealism, and Realism by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book British Prime Ministers and Democracy by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book I Don't Want Curly Hair! by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book P-40 Warhawk Aces of the CBI by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book Mighty Max: A Bloomsbury Young Reader by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book When the Last Lion Roars by Piers Paul Read
Cover of the book Passage Making Made Perfect by Piers Paul Read
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy