Patrick Morgenthaler

French author Sylvain Tesson pays tribute to the heroes of the Russian Revolution as he crosses the Pamir mountain range in Tajikistan, which boasts a multitude of peaks at more than 7,000m. They will have the occasion to look back on some of the major figures and events of the Revolution. Lenin Peak, Revolution Peak, Karl Marx Peak, and also the October Glacier and the Soviet Officer range – all names which evoke the Revolution in these remarkable yet little-known locations. He is accompanied by two friends, author and lover of all things Russian, Cédric Gras, and the former Soviet mountaineering instructor, Nicolay Taran. Along the way, the author and his traveling companions observe the traces left by the former USSR on daily life here, and they listen to the memories of the populations who live in the Pamirs, whether Kyrgyz nomads on the high plateaus or Ismailis in the valleys. For Sylvain Tesson, the journey will serve as a source of inspiration for his future writing.

This is the unlikely story of 21 ministers and prime ministers who have crossed or are crossing the french Fifth Republic today. Twenty-one politicians who, from one day to the next, find themselves at the head of a ministry by the grace of a President of the Republic and his Prime Minister. The formation of the government, conflicts of attribution, reshuffles, rumours of appointments, evictions, casting errors: it is all the capricious backstage of the games of power examined here under the angle of confidence and which sheds light on the prestigious but unknown function of minister. An original and instructive political saga on the reality of those who hold or have held this prestigious position.

"What could be more unsettling than a man close to death whose profound arrogance drives him relentlessly to hang onto both his power and his writing, to the bitter end?" In the twilight of his second seven-year term, François Mitterrand was alone. Ravaged by illness and abandoned by a large majority of the Socialist Party, who would not forgive him for the disastrous outcome of the March 1993 elections, the Head of State was preparing to tackle a second round of cohabitation with the right wing. However a series of unexpected tragedies and revelations would arise, casting a shadow over the end of his reign…

"What could be more unsettling than a man close to death whose profound arrogance drives him relentlessly to hang onto both his power and his writing, to the bitter end?" In the twilight of his second seven-year term, François Mitterrand was alone. Ravaged by illness and abandoned by a large majority of the Socialist Party, who would not forgive him for the disastrous outcome of the March 1993 elections, the Head of State was preparing to tackle a second round of cohabitation with the right wing. However a series of unexpected tragedies and revelations would arise, casting a shadow over the end of his reign…