In this book, the authors, Dominique and Jean-Toussaint Desanti, relate their lives of active political and intellectual commitment to Roger-Pol Droit.
The story begins with Dominique and Jean-Toussaint’s first meeting, their lives as an “open” couple, their involvement in the French Resistance and, later, in the Communist Party, their support of the FLN during the Algerian war of independence, their participation in the events of May 1968 in France and the United States, and their espousal of the feminist movement. They also discuss the numerous works they have written — literature in Dominique’s case, philosophy in Jean-Toussaint’s.
Their political path is one that was shared by many French intellectuals of their generation. The enthusiasm of many young people for left-wing causes had first been stirred by the Popular Front government. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad (rather than support of Marxist thought) later fanned this enthusiasm, with the result that many French intellectuals joined the Communist Party.
Each event in the authors’ lives is recounted individually from each one’s point of view, before being retold by both of them in unison. This manner of telling their story fully respects each writer’s personality and style, and has resulted in an especially intense book.

Dominique Desanti is a journalist, essayist and novelist.
Jean-Toussaint Desanti is a philosopher and professor emeritus at the University of Paris I-Sorbonne.