Download or read book France from 1851 to the Present written by Roger Célestin and published by Palgrave MacMillan. This book was released on 2007-08-15 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cultural history of France from a period of dominance in the mid-19th century to one of "decline" or "crisis" in the first few years of the third millennium. The first part (1851 to 1944) explores developments ranging from the transformation of Paris and the appearance of the colonial empire, to the construction of modern French society. The second part of the book follows the crisis of French universalism or of the "French exception" from the end of World War II to the contemporary period in which the "French model" has been increasingly difficult to sustain in the face of globalization, the Americanization of culture, decolonization and multiculturalism, among other developments.