A gripping history of the French far right, from the Dreyfus Affair to Marine Le Pen and the National Rally, whose candidate is strongly placed to seize the leadership of France.

In The Dark Side of France, Enda O'Doherty brings to life the long history of extreme nationalist, antisemitic and authoritarian politics and ideas in France. The story is told through thirteen gripping episodes, exploring pivotal moments in modern French history. The Dreyfus Affair violently divided the country for more than a decade. The First World War saw an outpouring of nationalist passion; the socialist leader Jean Jaurès was assassinated by a right-wing fanatic. In the 1920s and 30s Action Francaise and its widely admired leader, Charles Maurras, combined sophisticated intellectual argument with thuggery on the streets. In the turmoil of the 1930s, far-right violence brought down the elected government, with the Jewish Socialist leader Léon Blum a particular target. Collaboration with the Nazis during the Second World War is one of the most notorious episodes in French history, and OAS terrorists resisting Algerian independence came very close to assassinating President Charles de Gaulle. The political inheritors of wartime collaboration and the OAS are alive and well in today's far-right movements.

A compelling and disturbing narrative history, O'Doherty's book is a journey through the dark side of the republic.