Shortly before the French parliamentary elections of 1978, when the Union of the Left broke up in bitter disarray, its supporters and opponents alike were flabbergasted. Years of patient struggle has brought the Left to the very brink of power, making possible at last the eviction of the conservative regime which has grown so comfortable and arrogant during its long tenure in government. How could all this be so abruptly thrown away? Had the Socialists, as the Communists alleged, sabotaged the Union of the Left? Or was it merely that the Communists did not really want to share in power? And what hope could the Left now salvage for the future?

The most authoritative life of the Chinese leader every written, Mao: The Unknown Story is based on a decade of research, and on interviews with many of Mao’s close circle in China who have never talked before — and with virtually everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him. It is full of startling revelations, exploding the myth of the Long March, and showing a completely unknown Mao: he was not driven by idealism or ideology; his intimate and intricate relationship with Stalin went back to the 1920s, ultimately bringing him to power; he welcomed Japanese occupation of much of China; and he schemed, poisoned, and blackmailed to get his way. After Mao conquered China in 1949, his secret goal was to dominate the world. In chasing this dream he caused the deaths of 38 million people in the greatest famine in history. In all, well over 70 million Chinese perished under Mao’s rule — in peacetime.

The Left's Dirty Job compares the experiences of recent socialist governments in France and Spain, examining how the governments of Francois Mitterrand (1981-1995) and Felipe Gonzalez (1982-1996) provide a key test of whether a leftist approach to industrial restructuring is possible. This study argues that, in fact, both governments's policies generally resembled those of other European governments in their emphasis on market-adapting measures that eliminated thousands of jobs while providing income support for displaced workers. Featuring extensive field work and interviews with over one hundred political, labor, and business leaders, this study is the first systematic comparison of these important socialist governments.

Originally published in New York by Oxford University Press, 1986.

An examination of the ways in which the French Left adapted, through a series of transformations, to the exigencies of presidentialism and the myths which underpin it. The study aims to illustrate the crucial role played by language in the political practice of representative democracy.

The French elections of 2002 broke all records for fragmentation, abstention and far-right protest voting, yet returned incumbent President Chirac in triumph and gave him a solid basis of parliamentary support. Parties and the Party System in France seeks to explain the paradox of France's current relationship to politics through a comprehensive analysis of French political parties and their interaction over the last fifty years, set against the two contexts of French history and of contemporary theories of parties and party systems.