When I arrived in France in 1996 as a foreign correspondent, I thought I knew the place. I had lived here before, I spoke the language, I knew how to get around.

Instead, I began a journey of discovery that isn’t close to ending. France has become not just my second country and my permanent home but an ongoing source of reflection about how to live here. Between two cultures? Within two cultures? As a critic or as a defender, or both?

I translated those contradictions into the journalism I produced, both as a reporter and as an editor. And now I do the same as a blogger and a writer of fiction. As always, I focus on the regard — the fascination, seen through a national lens — that the French have for Americans and vice versa. I count myself on both sides of those misunderstandings and glimpses of comprehension.

Please join me on this journey.

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