The Man on Devil's Island : Alfred Dreyfus and the Affair that Divided France

Penguin Books Ltd

The Man on Devil's IslandAlfred Dreyfus and the Affair that Divided France\nAuthor(s): Ruth Harris\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Penguin Books Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Penguin Books Ltd\nISBN-13: 9780141014777, 978-0141014777\nSynopsis\nWinner of the Wolfson History Prize 2010 and the 2010 National Jewish Book Award for Biography Ruth Harris writes beautifully and engagingly on a moment in French history that polarized society and undermined the French state; the repercussions of which were felt up to the outbreak of the Second World War. At the end of September 1894 a charlady stole an undated and unsigned letter from the wastepaper bin of the German military attach in Paris. Torn to pieces but stuck back together by French intelligence, this document contained French military secrets. By the middle of October a Jewish captain in the army called Alfred Dreyfus was accused of being its author. As it turned out, he was entirely innocent, but at the time few questioned the verd.