The French Suicide

The French Suicide (Le Suicide français) is a 2014 essay by French far-right journalist Éric Zemmour. It argues that the French nation state has suffered a gradual decline since the 1970s, which Zemmour mainly attributes to the rise of immigration, feminism and egalitarianism, as well as the erosion of traditional values. The book also contends that Vichy France attempted to protect French Jews during World War II, a theory that attracted widespread criticism. It has been associated with declinist literature by critics. The book was a commercial success, selling more than 500,000 copies. Contents The book is divided into seventy-nine short chapters. Each chapter is centered around a specific date and chronicles an individual episode of France's supposed decline, which serve as a backdrop for Zemmour's arguments. The first chapter centers on 9 November 1970, the date of Charles de Gaulle's death. Zemmour discusses a wide array of topics. He expresses criticism of many developments that have affected French society and the French economy since the 1970s, including birth control, sexual liberation, women's right, gay rights, abortion, Muslim communitarianism, gender studies, monetary policy, the European Union, no-fault divorce, deconstruction and poststructuralism, privatization, the euro, American consumer capitalism, immigration from Africa, halal foods in schools, neoliberalism, and the end of conscription. Vichy France