American historians and french cultural history

This article examines why such a significant number of American historians have focused their scholarly attention on French history and what intellectual results that attention has produced. Reasons for the American interest in France include everything from incompetence in languages other than French to an admiration for the French Republic's egalitarian ideals. The products of the U.S. historiography on France often take hybrid forms; they are devoted to understanding aspects of French history but grounded in American society and the problematics of American scholarly life.