Death of Jean-Marie Le Pen: the founder of the National Front in 10 Books

Jean-Marie Le Pen died Tuesday January 7, at the age of 96. Founder and president from 1972 to 2011 of the National Front (now National Rally), a far-right party, he ran five times in the presidential election and reached the second round in 2002. The episode marked the peak of a political career opened in 1956 with his election as a deputy. He was then, at 27, the youngest to sit in the National Assembly.

An outstanding tribune, a sulphurous provocateur obsessed with immigration and Jews, a patriarch upset by his own people, Jean-Marie Le Pen brought the French far right out of its marginality during a political career that marked the V^e Republic.

The “Menhir” has never expressed any regret for its slippages, controlled or not, often repeated, which have earned it several legal convictions: gas chambers “ detail of the story “, has ” racial inequality » (1996), through the German Occupation « not particularly inhumane » (2005) or the physical attack of a socialist opponent (1997). “ I’m going to make you run, you’ll see, redhead… Faggot! », he again attacked a hostile activist.

His journey and career, as well as the transfer of power with his daughter Marine Le Penhave been analyzed in numerous works. Weekly Books retained 10 in a selective bibliography.

Jean-Marie Le Pen in 10 books:

• Memoirs Volume 1, Son of the Nation par Jean-Marie Le Pen (Muller), published in 2019: The first volume of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s memoirs from his birth in 1928 until the events of May 1968. His youth in Brittany, the Second World War, his student life in Paris, the war of Indochina, the Suez Canal crisis, the Poujadist movement, the Algerian crisis and the presidential campaign of 1965 are thus reviewed. Sales according to GFK: 41,185 copies.

• Memoirs Volume 2, Tribune of the People par Jean-Marie Le Pen (Muller), published in 2019. Sales according to GFK: 14,509 copies

• Le Pen, a French storypar Philippe Cohen, Pierre Péan (R. Laffont), published in 2012: Fueled by unpublished documents and interviews granted by J.-M. Le Pen himself, this investigation traces the trajectory of the founding family of the FN, from the father’s beginnings to to the election of Marion Maréchal-Le Pen as deputy, through the rise of Marine Le Pen. The authors explore the links of this dynasty with successive governments and the business community. 18,144 copies

• The Le Pen dynasty: its merciless universe with the scenario Renaud Delydrawing Fred Coicaultcolor Studio Rainbow (Hachette), published in 2017: A history of the Le Pen family and the relationships between its members since Jean-Marie Le Pen’s beginnings in politics. 1,593 copies.

• The Le Pen dynasty: secrets, lies and betrayals: investigation into a French family par David Mons (City), published in 2018: An investigation which traces the trajectory of the founding family of the National Front, from the father’s beginnings in the 1950s to the new extreme right embodied by Marion Maréchal-Le Pen. From internal wars to the media power of all members, a study which sheds light on the indisputable influence of the family in the political landscape of France.

• Mission Le Penof Thierry Légier (edition of Toucan), published in 2012: Portrait of Jean-Marie Le Pen by his bodyguard who followed him for 20 years. In the style of a logbook, it recounts the meetings, the travels, the defeats, the friends of all sides of the politician. 4,429 copies.

• From Le Pen to Le Pen: continuities and rupturesof Jean-Paul Gautier (Syllepse), published in 2015: An analysis of the evolution of the National Front from Jean-Marie to Marine Le Pen, and in particular of the demonization process implemented by the latter. Through the composition of the teams, their program, their ideological training and their writings, the author shows that if the party has indeed changed, it remains fundamentally hostile to democracy.

• Le Pen and torture: Algiers 1957, history against oblivion of Riceputi factories (The Stowaway), published in January 2024: Based on archives, testimonies and investigations, the story of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s short stay in Algeria in 1957, during the Battle of Algiers. The historian questions the use of torture he would have practiced. It also shows how and why the politician continued to be caught up in this past in the French press from the 1980s to the 2000s. 1,750 copies.

• At the sources of the National Front: 1968-1974of Gilbert Cottinet (Déterna), published in February 2024: Convinced by socialism, G. Cottinet settled in Guadeloupe for two years where he began a real ideological quest. He then returns to mainland France and then stays in Algeria and discovers the face of a devastated country. It was then that he learned of the existence of a social, popular and national right and met Jean-Marie Le Pen.

• The trial of Jean-Marie Le Pen par Matthew Lindon (Gallimard), published in 2000: In this strange novel, Mathieu Lindon imagines a young lawyer, Maître Mine, Jewish, homosexual and left-wing living with Mahmoud. Mine finds himself defending the young “shaved head” Ronald Blistier, accused of having killed a young Frenchman of North African origin. Pierre Mine wants to get the court to summon Le Pen, at least as a witness. 623 copies.