WINNER Best Graphic Novel Award
Weapons of Mass Diplomacy ■ ■ By A b e l L a n z ac . illu s t r at e d by Ch r is toph e B lai n ■ ■ T r a n slat e d by E d wa r d G au v i n
Bestselling satire of Franco-American relations in the lead-up to the Iraq War s e lling points ■■ Winner of the ‘Best Graphic Novel’ award at Angoulême in 2013 ■■ A bestseller in Europe, with more than 400,000 copies sold in France alone ■■ Based on Abel Lanzac’s experience as the speechwriter for former French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin ■■ A movie adaptation of Weapons of Mass Diplomacy was released in March 2014 (as The French Minister)
s pecifications
“A hilariously acerbic but accurate portrait of life in the French foreign ministry” — Daily Telegraph
Color illustrations throughout 200 pages, 8 x 10½ Hardcover RIGHTS: NORTH AMERICA PUB MONTH: MAY 2014 Graphic Novel
F
ollowing 9/11, President Bush’s “War on Terror” erupted into a cultural clash between French reluctance and
American assurance over the case for “Weapons of Mass
ISBN 978-1-906838-78-2
Destruction.” In Weapons of Mass Diplomacy, diplomat
ISBN $24.95 978-1-906838-78-2 US CAN $27.95
Abel Lanzac reveals a French insider’s point of view, with
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satirical humor that softens the controversial subject matter. 9 781906 838782
Readers follow Lanzac’s fictionalized self, Arthur Vlaminck, a speechwriter for the French Foreign Minister. As part of a team of flamboyant ministerial advisors, he has been tasked with drafting France’s response to the growing international crisis in the Middle East, which is then delivered before the United Nations Security Council. Weapons of Mass Diplomacy–a bestseller in Europe–provides a revelatory account of a period that saw French fries become “freedom fries” and an alternative perspective on the decisions leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Abel Lanzac, a pseudonym for Antonin Baudry, is a diplomat and former advisor to French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin. Christophe Blain is an awardwinning artist and writer best known for the series
Gus, as well as Isaac the Pirate and In the Kitchen with Alain Passard.
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