The Literary Life of the French Foreign Legion
By Robert Girardi in Publishing Perspectives

I was drawn to the French Foreign Legion--the subject of my new novel, Gorgeous East--for a variety of reasons. Chief among them has to do with a foolish weakness for old things: old books full of dust, old cars barely running, old chairs that you can barely sit in, old apartment buildings (hopefully without roaches) and most of all old ideals, worn-out and preferably politically incorrect.

And the FFL, badass tool of running dog imperialists of times past, though still around and active in Afghanistan and elsewhere, is nothing if not an old politically incorrect thing, a relic of the colonial warfare of bygone centuries.
(read on ...)


Bonus Material:
Join the French Foreign Legion, Oui or Non?
By Edward Nawotka

As discussed in our lead story today, one of the benefits-perhaps the main benefit-of joining the French Foreign Legion is the privilege of l'anonymat. It allows you to enlist under a fake name and, after five years of service, retire with a new identity and French citizenship, thus totally erasing your past.
(read on ...)