But as Revel astutely notes, the deeper bond is what he calls the"excommunication of modernity," a mark of the left going back to theprimitivist and anti-civilizational musings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.The Islamists understand this commonality as well: Among the doctrinalsources cited by Osama bin Laden, one finds not only the Quran but alsothe works of Noam Chomsky.

Anyone who thinks the totalitarian temptation lies buried in Lenin's mausoleum would do well to read this book, a fitting literary capstone in the career of one of France's true immortals.




Mr. Stephens is the Journal's foreign-affairs columnist and a deputy editorial page editor.