Description:
Deborah Bauer presents the history of French espionage and counterespionage services in the era of their professionalization, arguing that the expansion of surveillance practices reflects a change in understandings of how best to protect the nation.
Review Quotes: "Bauer has done critical archival work by painstakingly resurrecting the history of intelligence institutions for future scholars of French military intelligence. But this book will also be essential reading for students of French, German, and European history as well as the growing number of students and scholars interested generally in surveillance and intelligence. Marianne is Watching reminds us that our cultural fascination with spies and spying may seem benign entertainment, but its history is one of military expansion and xenophobia that is romanticized to compel people to believe in a powerful nationalist state."--Kathleen Keller, H-France Review