Jean Lesieur, 1949-2026
RIP, Jean Lesieur, famed and brave international journalist, novelist and friend of New England Diary, who has died of cancer in Paris at 76. My wife and I had known him and his family from early 1983 and and have met few if any people who were as impressive in character, intellect, curiosity, work ethic and, I especially note now, loyalty to his friends. And then there was his very funny dark humor.
— Robert Whitcomb
Tonight's PCFR: French elections, Brexit, Trump & other adventures
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (pcfremail@gmail.com; thepcfr.org):
Jean Lesieur, one of Europe’s most distinguished journalists, will be the speaker at tonight's (April 5) Providence Committee on Foreign Relations’ dinner. Mr. Lesieur is a novelist, a co-founder of France 24 (the French version of CNN), a former foreign correspondent and a former senior editor at the magazines Le Point and L’Express, among other publications. Among other things, he’ll talk about Europe in the Brexit/Trump eras, the state of the Western Alliance and, of course, the wild French election campaign.
Jean Lesieur to speak on French elections, future of Western Alliance in Brexit/Trump era
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfrmail@gmail.com).
Our next speaker comes on Wednesday, April 5, when Jean Lesieur, one of Europe’s most distinguished journalists, joins us. Mr. Lesieur is a novelist, a co-founder of France 24, the French version of CNN, a former foreign correspondent and a former senior editor at Le Point and L’Express, among other publications. Among other things, he’ll talk about Europe in the Brexit/Trump eras, the state of the Western Alliance and, of course, the wild French election campaign.
Two fine new books
Two fine recently published books: One is Jean Lesieur's Le Bal des chacals (The Ball of Jackels), published by Editions du Toucan, an exciting novel of intrigue about marriage, history, politics and media in France and America. It has not been translated into English yet but I'm pretty sure it will be. (I read French.)
Mr. Lesieur is a celebrated journalistic writer and editor, a novelist and a co-founder of the "French CNN'' -- France24. Few can write about contemporary France and America with such depth of knowledge about the configurations of power and with such a sense of place, including about New England.
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Then there's Target Tokyo (Norton), by James M. Scott, an exciting account of the April 18, 1942 U.S. air raid on Tokyo led by Lt. Col. James Doolittle. Coming so soon after Pearl Harbor, it shocked the Japanese into both the Battle of Midway, which they lost, and led them commit vast atrocities in occupied China, where most of the American airmen landed after the raid.
Mr. Scott looks at what led to the raid and its short- and long-term ramifications, good and bad. It is engrossing history, written with great narrative drive and impeccably sourced. It includes much information not previously known to the history-reading public.
-- Robert Whitcomb