Patrick Boucheron

Patrick Boucheron (born 28 October 1965) is a French historian. He previously taught medieval history at the École normale supérieure and the University of Paris. He is a professor of history at the Collège de France. He is the author of 12 books and the editor of 5 books. His 2017 book, Histoire mondiale de la France (Global History of France), compiled work by 122 historians and became an unexpected bestseller, with more than 110 000 copies sold. From 2017 to 2020, he hosted Quand l'histoire fait dates, a TV program of 22 episodes which explored different important dates in world history.

Early life Patrick Boucheron was born in 1965 in Paris.

Boucheron was educated at the Lycée Marcelin Berthelot in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés and the Lycée Henri IV in Paris. He earned a PhD in history from the University of Paris in 1994.

Boucheron has served on the editorial board of L'Histoire since 1999.

Boucheron is the author or co-author of 12 books and or the editor or co-editor of 5 books. Out of the many books he edited, Le mot qui tue. Une histoire des violences intellectuelles de l'Antiquité à nos jours, is about the use of words to wound others. His inaugural address before the Collège de France, Ce que peut l’histoire, was published as a book in 2016.

In 2017, Boucheron edited Histoire mondiale de la France (Global History of France), co-written by 122 historians. The book presents an account of French history from an international perspective; for example, it includes the 1973 Chilean coup d'état as part of French history.

Boucheron was a co-writer for the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony.

In 2025 he intervened publicly pushing for the censorship of the collective work Face à l’obscurantisme woke, the initial publication of which was planned for April 2025 at PUF.

Works in English

Works