Why does “How the French think” seem a writeable, marketable and realistic title when a book called, say, “How the Spanish think”, or even “How the British think” would sound reductive, partial and hubristic? Hazareesingh’s subtitle contains part of the answer: the French are, we’re told, “an intellectual people”. In other words, they had it coming.This is a companionable and lively, often witty, and certainly affectionate account of how certain ideas, and, importantly, their adaptability, their longevity and their connectedness, have shaped France’s sense of its political and historic identity, as well as its often providential sense of its role in the world. Despite the book’s learning, its enthusiasm and its pace,