The French Review

passerelles to facilitate pedestrian traffic. The distrusted military arrived, criticism and controversy notwithstanding. Images of past political battles, such as the Dreyfus Affair, remained deeply ingrained in the French mentality. However, various less controversial charitable groups, such as the French Red Cross, the Sisters of Charity, and local churches brought aid to the homeless. In his account of the disaster, Jackson, like the Parisians of 1910, measures its impact by the statue of the stone Zouave on the Pont de l’Alma. Jackson compares the attack of the flood to a city under siege, and contrasts the City of Light with a City of Mud and Filth. In addition, he inserts photographs from the flood. These pictures are listed in the index with their respective chapters but without page numbers, which makes it somewhat difficult to locate them. Jackson has used authentic documents to carry the human interest section of his narrative. Apollinaire and Alain are among the authors quoted, and their descriptions add a poetic note to the otherwise dismal scene. While Jackson has researched numerous sources, and references each one scrupulously, his style sometimes resembles a series of quotations rather than a smooth narration. This however does not impede the authenticity of the documentation. Since the flood of 1910 has largely been overlooked, seemingly eclipsed by the First World War, the search for information poses a challenge. Jackson has consulted numerous archival sources, French, British, and American periodicals, and many scholarly publications. He uses translations, presumably his own, with exact references, but without the original text. The French included in the book is accurate. Jackson notes that Paris has always been vulnerable to floods, and will not be immune in the future. Thus, the study of one important inundation, its causes, manifestations, and effects, can be useful, not only in Paris, but throughout the world. Technology can serve to prevent such disasters or to mitigate them. More than that, this fascinating account of 1910 highlights the need to protect the environment and repair the harm already done. Chestnut Hill College (PA) Mary Helen Kashuba KASPI, ANDRÉ. Comprendre les États-Unis d’aujourd’hui. Paris: Perrin, 2009. ISBN 978-2262 -03077-3. Pp. 329. 8 a. In this book’s eight chapters, “Je t’aime, moi non plus,” “La nouvelle Terre promise,” “Les riches, les pauvres et tous les autres,” “La démocratie à l’américaine ,” “La superpuissance n’est pas toute puissante,” “Une culture imitée et contest ée,” “Barack Obama, le magicien,” “À chacun son Amérique,” André Kaspi seeks to dispel the many misconceptions, myths, and stereotypes which, according to him, shape his fellow citizens’ too often uninformed, judgmental, and tendentious attitudes toward the United States. The author approaches the various aspects of American life and culture from an evolutionary perspective, stressing continuity rather than change, even in the wake of Obama’s election. However, because the purpose of his book is to communicate the necessity of nuancing one’s views, avoiding reduction, simplification, and generalization in order to produce informed assessments, he goes beyond his role as a historian and does not hesitate to include his own opinions, pointing out areas of concern and positive or remarkable elements, without, however, adopting an anti- or proAmerican stance. Reviews 197 Before discussing the myths and realities associated with the notions of American national identity, the make-up of American society and socio-economic problems, the nature of American democracy, the role of the United States on the world scene, and American culture, Kaspi addresses at some length the nature and origins of French attitudes concerning the United States. He includes a synopsis of the highs and lows in the Franco-American relationship and emphasizes the shortcomings of the sources of information on the United States in France (the media, schools), noting, for example, that there is only one position for a historian of the United States in the French university system. Although its subject matter is the United States and the intended audience is French, this book has great potential as a component of advanced French civilization classes that devote time to the study of French and European perceptions of the United States. It lays out much of...