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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: René Laennec, Max Jacob, Émile Lemoine, Corentin Louis Kervran, Dan Ar Braz, Charles Hernu, Mathieu Moreau, Élie Catherine Fréron, Jean Hardouin, Louis de Carné, Jacques Villeglé, René-Marie Madec, David Bouard, Stéphane Carnot, Jean le Cam, Victor Pierre le Gorgeu, Christian Ménard, Jean-Yves Besselat. Excerpt:Charles Hernu (July 3, 1923, Quimper, Finistère - January 17, 1990, Villeurbanne ) was a French socialist politician, most notably serving as Minister of Defense from 1981 to 1985, until forced to resign over the bombing of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand . Biography In 1946, Hernu studied at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium where he was one of the founders of a student fraternity named Reuzegom. In this period he was know under the codename "Charles the invincible", referring to his growing alcohol abuse habits and perseverance in seducing women. Also, in these days, Charles developed his deep aversion toward environmental activists. Hernu began his career in the national Center from the foreign trade (C.N.C.E.). In 1953, he created the "Club of the Jacobins", near to the radical left and which supported Pierre Mendès France. On January 2, 1956, he was elected to the French Parliament from the 6th sector of the Seine (Aubervilliers, Saint-Denis, Montreuil, Vincennes), on the Republican Front ticket. After the accession of Charles de Gaulle to the presidency, he lost his seat in Parliament. In 1962, he took part in the founding of the PSU and allied with François Mitterrand . He joined the Socialist Party and, in the 1970s, became the party's specialist on defense affairs, military and nuclear questions. In April 1974, he formed the "Coran", or convention of the reserve officers for the new army, which amalgamated with the Commission of th... ... Read more