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A riveting account of the famously complex case which split France, and a reminder of the interest individuals have in the faithful execution of laws as the safeguard of liberties and honour.
Synopsis
In December 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a brilliant French artillery officer and a Jew of Alsatian descent, was court-martialed for selling secrets to the German military attache in Paris based on perjured testimony and trumped-up evidence. This title presents an account of the famously complex case.
Book Details
Publisher:
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Publication Date:
07-Sep-2010
ISBN:
9780300168143
Guardian review
Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters by Louis Begley review
Ian Pindar the guardian Sat 06 November 2010
In 1894 the French artillery captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted of treason and imprisoned on Devil's Island. For Devil's Island read Guantánamo Bay, says the novelist and lawyer Louis Begley, who uncovers numerous parallels between l'affaire Dreyfus and "the Bush-Cheney heritage of trampling on America's international obligations under both the Geneva conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture while at the same time evading or violating the laws and constitution of the United States". Everyone has a right to a fair trial, he argues, but, just as Dreyfus was a victim of antisemitism, so many Guantánamo detainees are victims of anti-Islamism. In France, the liberal establishment exposed the military conspiracy that had imprisoned an innocent man; in America, Begley observes, "journalists dedicated to exposing the abuses of the Bush administration", as well as federal judges, military and civilian lawyers and law professors, took it upon themselves to defend the Guantánamo detainees. "They have redeemed the honour of the nation."
