This book group focuses on non-fiction works exploring French and American history, and the many mutual influences our two countries have had on each other.

Over the past year, this book group has focused on the 1930s and 40s. In the fall, we will explore some different periods and different types of historical works. The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea could be broadly described as a work of environmental history, while The Discovery of France seems to demonstrate how geography and history are indissociable. The last two works, Mutinous Women – How French Convicts became Founding Mothers of the Gulf Coast and Polio: An American Story, could be categorized as social history.

Led by Sharon Golec.

• Becoming Beauvoir: A Life by Kate Kirkpatrick (2019, Bloomsbury Press)

• The Dreyfus Affair: The Story of the Most Infamous Miscarriage of Justice in French History by Piers Paul Read (2012, Bloomsbury Press)

• 25 January
• 7 March