Burn, Bébé, Burn

For decades, the French have perceived themselves as immune to the racially polarized politics of the United States, liberated by a national rhetoric of "universalism" and color blindness. What was most striking about the tumult that swept through France last fall was not how distinctly French it was, but how much it looked like the United States during the "long hot summer" of 1967. The parallels were striking—and the lessons for France are grim.