Sign-In
Cart
Rival Modernities: Fin-De-Siècle Celebrity and the United States in the French National Imagination
Paperback
French HistoryGeneral World History
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9781503647251
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: Aug 18 2026
Pages: 360
Weight: 1.05
Height: 1.00 Width: 6.00 Depth: 8.80
Language: English
What do Buffalo Bill and Gustave Eiffel have in common? These celebrities are both part of Venita Datta's analysis of competing notions of modernity and French-American relations at the turn of the twentieth century. Fin-de-siècle France saw itself as the premier modern country. A pioneer in the aviation and cinema industries, its capital Paris was home to the cultural avant-garde. Nonetheless, the French harbored ambivalent feelings toward modernity and expressed their critiques of a certain type of modernity by denigrating it as American.
To understand this ambivalence, Datta effectively contrasts four pairs of exemplary French and American figures: inventor-entrepreneurs Gustave Eiffel and Thomas Edison, reporters Nellie Bly and Gaston Leroux, celebrity politicians Georges Boulanger and Theodore Roosevelt, and adventurers Buffalo Bill and the Marquis de Morès. Through an examination of the differences in French perceptions of these famous pairs, Datta illustrates that they highlight competing values rooted in national identity, and reflect each nation's struggles with democracy. Filled with fascinating characters and detail, Datta's book illuminates both the rivalries between France and the United States and their deep connections at an important yet understudied moment in history. The legacy of these complex Franco-American cultural relations is profoundly relevant to the challenges contemporary democracies face today.
1 different editions
Also available
Rival Modernities: Fin-De-Siècle Celebrity and the United States in the French National Imagination
Datta, Venita
Hardcover
Also from
Datta, Venita
Rival Modernities: Fin-De-Siècle Celebrity and the United States in the French National Imagination
Datta, Venita
Hardcover
Also in
French History
Art of the Defeat: France 1940-1944
Laurence Bertrand Dorleac (author)
Jane Marie Todd (translator)
Hardcover
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
Purnell, Sonia
Paperback
The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland
Young, Michelle
Hardcover
The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland
Young, Michelle
Paperback
The Dark Side of France: A History of the French Far Right from the 1890s to the Present
O'Doherty, Enda
Hardcover
Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure
Kladstrup, Donald
Kladstrup, Petie
Paperback
The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris
Mazzeo, Tilar J.
Paperback
A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France
Moorehead, Caroline
Paperback
The First Emancipation: The Forgotten History of Abolition in Revolutionary France
Popkin, Jeremy D.
Hardcover
Beyond the Ocean: France and the Atlantic World from the Crusades to the Age of Revolutions
Rushforth, Brett
Hodson, Christopher
Hardcover
A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment
Hénaut, Stéphane
Mitchell, Jeni
Paperback
Josephine Baker's Secret War: The African American Star Who Fought for France and Freedom
Diamond, Hanna
Hardcover
The People's Justice: Revolutionary Law and the Founding of the French Republic
Hesse, Carla
Hardcover
The Last Empress of France: The Rebellious Life of Eugénie de Montijo
Resnick, Evelyne
Kladstrup, Petie
Hardcover
From Ancient Gaul to Canada: A Trip Through the Enchanting History of French Canadians
Kish, Dennis
Paperback
Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812: Complete and Unabridged (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)
Bonaparte, Napoleon
Paperback
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918
Barthas, Louis
Paperback
The Leopard in the Garden: Animal and Human Lives in Paris at the First Public Zoo of the Modern Era
Burkhardt, Richard W., Jr.
Hardcover
Dancing to the Precipice: The Life of Lucie de la Tour Du Pin, Eyewitness to an Era
Moorehead, Caroline
Paperback
The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It
Bell, David A.
Paperback
The Napoleonic Wars: An Enthralling Guide to Global Conflict, Revolutionary Tactics, and the Empire's Expansion
Wellman, Billy
Hardcover
From Occupation to Integration: Recivilizing the French Zone of Post-Nazi Germany, 1945-1955
Flanagan, Drew
Hardcover
And There Was Light: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Blind Hero of the French Resistance in World War II
Lusseyran, Jacques
Paperback
Devil's Guard: The Fascinating, True Story of the French Foreign Legion's Nazi Battalion
Elford, George R.
Paperback
Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment
Bodanis, David
Paperback
Napoleon's Closet: The Emperor, the Priest, and the Men Who Invented Modern Fashion
Waller, Margaret
Paperback
Six Armies in Normandy: From D-Day to the Liberation of Paris; June 6 - Aug. 5, 1944; Revised
Keegan, John
Paperback
Fashion Victims: Dress at the Court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette
Chrisman-Campbell, Kimberly
Paperback
The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon
Whitaker, Robert
Paperback
Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People
Herring, Emily
Hardcover
Who Will Rescue Us?: The Story of the Jewish Children Who Fled to France and America During the Holocaust
Hobson Faure, Laura
Hardcover
Napoleon's Letters to Josephine: Correspondence of War, Politics, Family and Love 1796-1814
Hall, Henry Foljambe
Paperback
City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris
Tucker, Holly
Paperback
Matriarchal Societies of the Past and the Rise of Patriarchy: West Asia and Europe
Goettner-Abendroth, Heide
Hardcover
A Good Place to Hide: How One French Community Saved Thousands of Lives in World War II
Grose, Peter
Paperback
French Revolution: A Captivating Guide to the French Revolution, the Life of Marie Antoinette and the Impact Made by Napoleon Bonaparte
History, Captivating
Hardcover
A Protestant Air: Gide, Sartre, Barthes, and the Religion of Literary Modernity
Fauré-Bellaïche, Clémentine
Paperback
The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry Into the Fall of France in 1940
Shirer, William L.
Paperback