Georgette Elgey, historian and chronicler of French politics

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The French historian, writer and former journalist Georgette Elgey died in Paris this week at the age of 90. She is best known for her exhaustive, six-volume history of France’s Fourth Republic, Histoire de la IVe République, a monumental account of the system of government in France between 1946 and 1958, of which the first volume was published in 1965 and the last in 2012. In 2017, Elgey, who was close to many of those who shaped French politics over the past six decades, gave an insightful interview about her work to Mediapart, republished here.

 

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The French historian, writer and former journalist Georgette Elgey died in Paris on October 8th at the age of 90. Her extraordinary life brought her close to many of the main actors of post-war French politics, including up to recent years. She was above all known for her acclaimed historical work, published in six volumes, of France’s Fourth Republic, the system of government in place between 1946-1958 when the country was rebuilt from the devastation of WWII.

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