I wish to express my wholehearted appreciation to my wife and to my children, Brigitte and Bruno, who accepted with patience and selflessness all the constraints that my commitment to Alcatel Alsthom introduced into our family life.

I wish to express, as well, my immense gratitude to Francine, my loyal assistant, who, for a quarter of a century and without interruption, witnessed this adventure, including the final desert crossing.

I dedicate this book to my grandchildren, Audrey, Clémence, Adrien and Florian, as well as those who may yet be born. It is written to respond in advance to their curiosity when the day comes that they will want to know what happened to their grandfather the century before in the country which professes to be the nation of Human Rights.

<< Table of Contents   -   Prologue >>

Ton affaire, c’est de jouer correctement le personnage qui t’a été confié; quant à le choisir, c’est l’affaire d’un autre.
(It’s your business to properly play out the character that you were assigned; as for choosing it, that’s the business of another.)
Epictetus

Que chacun fasse donc le métier qu’il sait faire!
(That every man perform the job that he knows how to do!)
Aristophanes, The Wasps

Il faut être plus grands, malgré nous.
(We must be greater, despite ourselves.)
Napoléon

Cras ingens iterabimus aequo.
(Tomorrow we take our course once more over the mighty seas.)
Horace, Odes

…et tacitum vivit sub pectore vulnus.
(...and a silent wound lives under her chest.)
Virgil, The Aeneid

Quel plus terrible fléau que l'injustice qui a les armes à la main.
(What more terrible curse than injustice with arms in hand.)
Aristotle, Metaphysics