The capitvating autobiography of one of France’s leading political activists and intellectuals

Translated by John Howe

Régis Debray is one of France’s leading contemporary intellectuals and commentators, whose life has intersected with some of the key moments of the twentieth century. In this elegantly crafted memoir, Debray traces his route from the Parisian lecture theatres of the Rue d’Ulm with Althusser and his students, to Cuba and his deep involvement with the revolution, to the Bolivian jungle where, in search of Che Guevara, Debray was captured, tortured, and imprisoned and only released after an international campaign, and finally to the state offices of the Elysée Palace, where he served as an advisor to François Mitterrand in the early 1980s.

More than simply a wonderful memoir, Praised Be Our Lords is also an exploration of the mechanisms of political passion — and how it can lead people to adopt apparently contradictory positions in search of an outlet for their beliefs.

Praise for God: An Itinerary

“A stylistic tour de force, Nietzschean in its seductive rhetoric, lightly worn erudition, aphoristic insights and provocative asides.” — London Review of Books

“Keeps breaking into well-informed sense and keen insight.” — Guardian

Régis Debray teaches philosophy at the Université de Lyon-III and is director of the European Institute of the History and Science of Religion at the école pratique des hautes études. He is the author of many books, including Media Manifestos and God: An Itinerary, also available from Verso.