ABSTRACT
In one of Alain Peyrefitte’s press conferences the French president called attention several times to a new book which had become one of the nation's bestsellers, although its pessimism in the analysis of old French difficulties is in sharp contrast to the official optimism. When he was minister of information, an Orwellian job that most Western democracies hesitate to create, the country was not exactly deluged with fresh facts about thorny issues and grievous problems. Evidendy the murder of Prince Jean de Broglie did him a good deal of harm. No soldiers were dispatched to carry his coffin, only firemen turned up. Three ministers and the president of Parliament, Edgar Faure, failed to show at the last minute because of “the weather,” namely a flurry of snow. Once he had the glory of the successful French diplomat who had negotiated the recognition of Algeria at the Evian conference.
