This book introduces an English-speaking public to the life of Madeleine Riffaud one of the last living leaders of the French Resistance. It considers the nature of the rebel hero in France s founding historical narratives (revolution, insurrection, resistance) while asking what contributions such a hero might make to debates on national identity today.

Through a series of narrative close-ups, the book offers perspectives on major chapters in nineteenth- and twentieth-century French history through the eyes of activists who experienced them: the Revolution of July 1830 and...