Quick Facts
Biography
Michel Winock (born 19 March 1937) is a French historian, specializing in the history of the French Republic, intellectual movements, antisemitism, nationalism and the far right movements of France. He is a professeur des universités in contemporary history at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po) and member of L'Histoire magazine's editing board. Winock has also worked as a reporter for Le Monde.
Winock is the author of Siècle des intellectuels (Century of Intellectuals, 1997), for which he received the Prix Médicis in 1997 in the essay category. He also wrote Voix de la liberté (Voice of Liberty, 2001), acknowledged by the Académie française, and directed the Dictionnaire des intellectuels français with Jacques Juillard. He won the 2010 Prix Goncourt de la Biographie for Madame de Stael.
Biography
Winock became doctor of letters achieving his agrégation d'histoire in 1961. He started his career in secondary school teaching at the lycée in Montpellier, then at the Lycée Hoche in Versailles and the lycée Lakanal in Sceaux. The creation of the University of Vincennes following the Faure reform of 1968 opened the doors of higher education to him. Winock also led a career as an editor. He was member of the Esprit magazine from 1964, and became an adviser, then literary director to Éditions du Seuil. In 1978, a year after leaving Esprit, he founded L'Histoire magazine with the aim of making the best historical research accessible to the public. Author of about 40 works, Winock is today one of the most prolific and esteemed French historians.
Winock was one of the initiators of the Liberté pour l'histoire (freedom for history) petition. Winock participated in the administrative council of the association with the same name.