Robert Zaretsky

France Gets the Spire It Seems to Want

The secret to overcoming existential despair.

A French Historian’s Message for Pandemic Times

As disease and war ravaged the nation, he left town and invented the essay.

A leader steps up at time of war. Seen by many as the country’s savior, he is decried by others as the nation’s doom. The object of unquestioning devotion or unwavering...

Want to know how disease can permanently alter a society? Read Thucydides.  

This week, Emmanuel Macron reinvented himself. In a televised address on the coronavirus epidemic, the man who began his presidency two years ago as a liberal Europeanist reappeared...

When Dooley Wilson, playing the role of Sam in the classic film “Casablanca,” croons to Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman that “a kiss is just a kiss,” he...

In late February 1895, the French artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus found himself at sea. Several weeks earlier, a military court had found him guilty of treason. Soldiers marched him...

In an era of seismic political and economic change, he rose to the world’s most visible seat of power. He roused the passions of those who felt ignored by political elites. He...

Rarely has history felt as relevant as it has since the start of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Rummaging through the past to make sense of the present, politicians...

When Crimes Become Blunders in an Acquiescent Court