KERSAUDY, François 1948-

PERSONAL: Born September 22, 1948, in Boulognesur-Seine (now Boulogne-Billancourt), France; son of George and Irene (Toumanian) Kersaudy. Education: Earned degree from Political Science Institute, 1970; Sorbonne, University of Paris, Ph.D., 1976; earned state doctorate, 1986.

ADDRESSES: Home—92 bis avenue de Versailles, 75016 Paris, France. Office—Sorbonne, University of Paris I—Pantheon, 12 place du pantheon, 75231 Paris, Cedex 05, France.

CAREER: University of Paris, Sorbonne, Paris, France, associate professor of international relations, beginning 1981. Translator and writer.

MEMBER: Institute for the Study of International Contemporary Relations, Royal Society of Literature (fellow).

AWARDS, HONORS: Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, 1977–80; Book of the Year Award, Yorkshire Post, 1982, for Churchill and de Gaulle.

WRITINGS:

Stratèges et Norvège 1940: les jeux de la guerre et du hasard, Hachette (Paris, France), 1977.

Churchill and de Gaulle, Collins (London, England), 1981, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1982.

1940, la guerre du fer, Tallandier (Paris, France), 1987, translation by Kersaudy published as Norway 1940, Collins (London, England), 1990, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991, revised edition published as Churchill contre Hitler: Norvège 1940, la victoire fatale, Tallandier (Paris, France), 2002.

Vi stoler på England, 1939–1949, Cappelan (Oslo, Norway), 1991.

Winston Churchill: le pouvoir de l'imagination, Tallandier (Paris, France), 2000.

Churchill et Monaco, Editions du Rocher (Monaco), 2002.

Contributor to periodicals, including Times Literary Supplement.

SIDELIGHTS: François Kersaudy is a French historian with particular expertise in the World War II era. His best known work in English is Churchill and de Gaulle, which chronicles the relationship between Winston Churchill, England's prime minister during the Second World War, and Charles de Gaulle, leader of Free French Forces during World War II. Though the two leaders held considerable differences of opinion—indeed, Churchill repeatedly called for the removal of de Gaulle from authority—they nonetheless developed a strong bond, uniting the other Allied forces during the war.

Since its publication in 1981, Churchill and de Gaulle has been widely praised as a masterful account of the affiliation between the two men. A.J.P. Taylor, in his London Observer assessment, noted that Kersaudy tells his story "with inimitable skill and careful scholarship." In the Listener, Theodore Zeldin called Churchill and de Gaulle "remarkable."

Kersaudy's work has also been praised by American reviewers. Writing in the Chicago Tribune Book World, Alfred C. Ames described Kersaudy's volume as "rewarding reading" and "a book not to be missed on any account." And reviewing Kersaudy's volume in the Washington Post Book World, Stanley Hoffmann commented that Churchill and de Gaulle was "excellent." In the New Yorker, Alistair Cooke described Kersaudy as "wise and fair."

Kersaudy is also the author of 1940, la guerre du fer an account of the fouled Allied enterprise that precipitated the German invasion of Norway during World War II. For several months, English leaders considered various methods of undermining Germany's likely entry into Scandinavia. Numerous plans were considered, but when a German ship was actually discovered transporting British captives along the Norwegian coast, the English successfully executed a daring rescue. Unfortunately, the operation so angered the German leadership that it almost immediately undertook preparations for the invasion of Norway. That invasion, which the English had been so eager to prevent, proved a relatively quick success for the Germans.

1940, la guerre du fer generated additional praise for Kersaudy as an accomplished historian. Listener reviewer Martin Fagg observed that in the translation, Norway 1940, Kersaudy had realized "an expertly compiled and unsparing analysis," and Times Literary Supplement critic Michael Carver described Kersaudy's volume as "brilliant history." Carver added that "Kersaudy has delved deep into the archives of all the nations involved and presents a more balanced picture than in any previous account."

Kersaudy once told CA: "Back in 1981, I wrote a novel called Russian Resurrection. It was about an attempted coup by the KGB chief, followed by an anticommunist countercoup led by the army chief of staff. I never thought it would happen, but the tale was much more believable than what actually happened a decade later! (No publisher was interested at that time.)"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune Book World, March 28, 1982, Alfred C. Ames, review of Churchill and de Gaulle, pp. 1, 5.

Listener, October 8, 1981, Theodore Zeldin, review of Churchill and de Gaulle, p. 408; January 18, 1990, Martin Fagg, review of Norway 1940, p. 31.

Newsweek, April 12, 1982, pp. 81-82.

New Yorker, September 20, 1982, Alistair Cooke, review of Churchill and de Gaulle, pp. 141-151.

New York Review of Books, October 7, 1982, p. 39.

New York Times Book Review, April 11, 1982, pp. 8, 21.

Observer (London, England), September 27, 1981, A.J.P. Taylor, review of Churchill and de Gaulle, p. 32.

Spectator, October 31, 1981, pp. 23-24.

Times (London, England), October 15, 1981; May 12, 1990.

Times Literary Supplement, November 6, 1981, p. 1294; January 12, 1990, Michael Carver, review of Norway 1940, p. 29.

Washington Post Book World, June 13, 1982, Stanley Hoffmann, review of Churchill and de Gaulle, pp. 5, 13-14.