As the presidential election approaches, two historians are reviving a debate that has never truly left the French public stage: that of the national narrative. Dimitri Casali and Jean-François Chemain are republishing their joint work, a “short guide” intended to remind the French, “whatever their origins,” of the values that they believe built the country.
A Narrative Void Turned Symptom
The starting point for the two authors is not insignificant. Originally published by Éditions du Rocher on October 4, 2017, the book was born in the direct aftermath of the January 2015 terrorist attacks. Casali and Chemain explain that they wanted to respond to a shock—that of a country “wounded in its flesh and mind”—with a reminder of fundamentals rather than a new controversy.
Their diagnosis is summed up in a single sentence, quoted in the publisher’s presentation:
« The enemies of the Republic are only strong because we are weak and forgetful of our fundamental principles… »
This observation of weakening through forgetfulness is at the heart of their approach. Over 160 pages, the book lists twenty values and landmarks that the authors consider constitutive of French identity “for 2,000 years”. Among the landmarks cited: freedom of expression, humanism, the French language, the Enlightenment, patriotism, civic spirit, and the sense of merit—notions that the authors present as a shared heritage rather than a partisan catalog.
A Dual Heritage Rather Than a Single Narrative
The most defining angle of the book lies in its refusal to pit two Frances against each other, a clash that occurs all too often in public debate. On the contrary, Casali and Chemain claim the permanence of a dual heritage:
- a Christian and monarchical side, the matrix of ancient institutions and symbols;
- a republican and secular side, born from revolutionary ruptures and the Enlightenment.
This two-tiered reading, far from opposing the Ancien Régime and the Republic, makes them two sides of the same historical continuity. It is precisely this continuity—rather than a relativism that would place all periods of national history under the same cloud of suspicion—that the book intends to restore. The specialized bookseller Chiré notes, moreover, in its own review, that the book remains “a little too favorable to La Marseillaise, to republican values”—a sign that the text does not seek a break with the republican legacy but rather its integration into a longer narrative.
The authors state their ambition bluntly in the publisher’s presentation:
« This brief reminder of values, symbols, and landmarks, on which there is no question of compromising, makes no concessions to the spirit of repentance and political correctness invading us. »
This is where, according to the authors, the universal vocation of the French model described by Valeurs Actuelles comes into play: a narrative that does not target a specific ethnic origin but rather all those who recognize themselves, by choice or by birth, in this shared heritage.
The Authors’ Profiles: Taught History, Lived History
The legitimacy of the approach is built on the intersecting paths of the two historians, as detailed by Chiré:
- Dimitri Casali, a historian specializing in history education, and author of La longue montée de l’ignorance (First, 2017), Notre Histoire, tout ce que nos enfants devraient apprendre à l’École (La Martinière, 2016), Désintégration Française (JC Lattès, 2016), and L’Altermanuel d’Histoire (Perrin, 2012), which won him the Prix du Guesclin in 2013. He is also the creator of the educational concept Historock, designed to teach history through music, including Napoléon l’Opéra Rock.
- Jean-François Chemain, a graduate of IEP Paris, holder of a PhD in Legal History, an agrégé and PhD in History, who worked as a consultant and corporate executive before becoming a secondary school teacher.
This dual grounding—one in popular history and the critique of school education, the other in law and institutional history—gives the book a foundation that goes beyond a simple identity pamphlet, presenting itself instead as an educational tool.
Electoral Stakes: Who Will Carry This Continuity?
With a presidential election approaching in which identity issues will take center stage, the question implicitly raised by the book goes beyond the literary realm: which candidate will be able to embody this narrative of continuity rather than yet another rupture? The very title chosen by the authors—a “manual” of “landmarks”—suggests an educational intent aimed as much at voters as at political leaders, who are invited to position themselves in relation to a foundation rather than multiplying proposals for institutional rupture.
The book does not explicitly take a stand for any candidate; it functions more as an analytical framework, a test of historical consistency that voters could apply to the various political platforms in the upcoming election.
An Approach Part of a Broader Movement
This type of attempt at “cultural rearmament” is not unique to France. Throughout Western Europe, similar voices are seeking to document and reaffirm a foundation of shared values in the face of what is perceived as a gradual dissolution of national narratives in favor of technocratic and supranationale governance. Casali and Chemain’s approach fits into this vein: offering a documentary, factual, and educational antidote rather than a simple campaign slogan.
Conclusion
It remains to be seen whether a “short guide” of twenty values can carry weight against the scale of the cultural disconnect diagnosed by its authors. The book does not claim to settle the institutional debates of the upcoming presidential election; it poses a preliminary question: can a nation project itself into the future without first agreeing on what it has been? It is up to public debate and the candidates to answer this question, raised by two historians who refuse to choose between Christian, monarchical France and republican, secular France—because, in their view, it has always been both at once.
