Julian Jackson.
JULIAN JACKSON: PHILIPPE PETAIN BIOGRAPHY
FRANCE ON TRIAL: THE CASE OF MARSHAL PETAIN (2023)
Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize 2023.
A Times, Telegraph and Spectator Book of the Year.
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Philippe Petain (born 1856) commanded the French aremy during the First World War, and was brought out of retirement to lead the Vichy regime which collaborated with the Nazis to govern the souther part of France which the Germans had not occupied. His great First World War achievement was leading the French forces during the Battle of Verdun, which lasted for nine months and earned him the nickname ‘The Lion of Verdun’. After the Second World War Petain was tried for, and convicted of, treason. Initially sentenced to death, this was commuted in view of his age to life imprisonment which conntinued until his death at the age of 95 in 1951. Charles de Gaulle described Petain’s life as ‘succesively banal, then glorious, then deplorable, but never mediocre’.
The LIterary Review described Jackson’s biography of Petain thus: ‘A splendid book ... The central narrative of the trial grips like a thriller ... Jackson's vivid prose is leavened by wit and sharpened by telling details ... This is a substantial achievement by a historian at the top of his game.’ The Sunday Telegraph wrote: ‘A superb book ... Jackson is that rare beast: a distinguished academic historian who writes with flair and clarity... one could almost be buried in a work of high-class fiction... 5/5 stars’.
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Julian Jackson (born 1954) is a British historian. He was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where in 1982 he obtained his PhD on the subject of the Great Depression in France. After teaching for several years at the University of Wales, Swansea, Jackson moved in 2003 to the history department of Queen Mary University. He has written several books on the 20th century history of France. Two of these (his biographies of de Gaulle and Marshal Petain) have won the Duff Cooper Prize.
