Gordon Wright is William H. Bonsall Professor of History Emeritus at Stanford University. He is a past president of both the American Historical Association and the Society for French Historical Studies, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His many other books include Raymond Poincare and the French Presidency; Rurual Revolution in France; The Ordeal of Total War: 1939-1945; and Between the Guillotine and Liberty: Two Centuries of the Crime Problem in France.