Neither Barthou's contemporaries nor subsequent historians have known quite what to make of this bourgeois politician who fought a duel with Jean Jaurès and flew with Wilbur Wright. Many concluded he was an individual of considerable talent, few principles, and excessive ambition. No one, reading Power and Pleasure, can maintain that view. Robert Young, constructing a complete picture of Barthou, effectively refutes the charge of unprincipled ambition and deftly deals with the tension between political principles and pragmatism.

Young has written a social biography, situating Barthou's life -- both public and private -- in the political and cultural context of the Third Republic. Barthou was a centrist in his politics and, while current scholarship maintains that centrists adopted regressive strategies in response to the social question, Young presents an alternative reading of their position. He argues that although centrists like Barthou were not socialists -- for them "bourgeois" was a positive term -- they were capable of adjusting their ideals to meet the social changes of modern France. Barthou's turbulent political career was tempered both by a thirty-five-year marriage to his supportive wife and by a lifetime of pleasure derived from music, art, history, books, and literature.

Saskatchewan-born, Robert J. Young received his doctorate from the London School of Economics, and is currently Emeritus Professor of History and Fellow of United College at the University of Winnipeg. He is a recipient of the University's principal award for Excellence in Teaching, and its principal award for Excellence in Research. He was also named Canadian Professor of the Year by the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education. The first of his 10 books was published by Harvard University Press, the most recent by the Winnipeg Free Press. His biography of one 20th century French statesman was awarded the Canadian Historical Association's Ferguson Prize for the best book in non-Canadian history; and another biography of a French diplomat and historian received the Manitoba Writers Guild's Isbister prize for the best work of non-fiction.

Robert J. Young's profile page

"Quite simply, brilliant. The book starts off on a lively note and sustains it throughout. The research is exhaustive and impeccable. Beautifully written ... the style is closer to that of an elegant novel than to the prosaic style of most historical monographs ... [Young's book] ought to be required reading for anyone embarking on a study of French politics." William Irvine, Glendon College, York University.
"This is a first-rate piece of work ... well-conceived, well-documented, and extraordinarily well-written ... Young has succeeded in his aim of providing a "full portrait" of Barthou. This is biography in the best of styles." John Laffey, Department of History, Concordia University.