Nicole Bacharan is a historian and political scientist, internationally recognized as a leading expert on U.S. politics, geopolitics, and transatlantic relations. She is a regular commentator on international affairs on television and radio in both Europe and the United States. In France, she has been a key contributor to the award-winning program C dans l’air on France 5 since its launch, and to the national news channel LCI. She is also a columnist for Ouest-France and a contributor to the weekly Franc-Tireur, and regularly gives interviews to regional, national, and international media. She also takes part in many current-affairs documentaries.

A highly sought-after speaker, Nicole Bacharan lectures widely in Europe and the United States for universities, public institutions, associations, and major corporations.

She is the author of more than twenty books, including landmark essays on American history and politics, as well as several novels. Her most personal book, La Plus Résistante de Toutes, which recounts her mother’s experience as a very young member of the French Resistance during World War II, received both the Simone Veil Prize and the Chadourne Prize. With Dominique Simonnet, she has co-authored several widely read books on U.S. history and politics (The Secrets of the White House, The Great Days That Shaped America,First Ladies, September 11 : The Day of Chaos), along with educational fiction for young readers. Their latest book, Requiem for the Free World : Trumpism and Islamism, the Totalitarian Pincer, was published in September 2025.

For many years, Nicole Bacharan has developed initiatives aimed at promoting the transatlantic relationship and fostering a better mutual understanding between Europe and the United States. On the evening of September 11, 2001, during the 8 p.m. news on France 2, she left a strong impression on French viewers when she declared: “Tonight, we are all Americans.” As an independent expert, she has testified before various institutions, including in 2008 before the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the French National Assembly on the issue of France’s full return to NATO’s integrated military command. In France, she has served on the boards of leading cultural and public institutions such as Radio France Internationale, the National Book Center (CNL), and the Rendez-vous de l’histoire in Blois. She is a member of the jury for the French-American Foundation Translation Prize, the Simone Veil Prize, and the Chadourne Prize. She is also a member of The Cercle de l’Union Interalliée, the Club Femmes Forum, the club PDFM (Pour les Femmes Dans les Médias) et of the French American Foundation. In 2008, she was awarded the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor by the President of the French Republic.

A graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne University, and the College of Europe in Bruges, and completed advanced training in Florence at the European University Institute, Nicole Bacharan lived for many years in New York and Houston, and was a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University (from 2007 to 2014). Based in Paris, she continues to divide her life between Europe and the United States, where part of her family lives. In addition to French and English, she also speaks German and Italian.

Books

Nicole Bacharan and Dominique Simonnet

 

 - Requiem pour le monde libre : la tenaille totalitaire, entre trumpisme et islamisme (Requiem for the Free World : The Totalitarian Pincer Between Trumpism and Islamism) Ed. de l’Observatoire, 2025. 

- Les Grands jours qui ont changé l’Amérique (The Great Days That Changed America) Perrin, 2021; Pocket, 2022.

- First Ladies, à la conquête de la Maison Blanche (A History of American First Ladies), Perrin 2016 ; Tempus, 2020.

- Les Secrets de la Maison Blanche (Behind Major American Presidential Decisions), Perrin 2014.

- 11-Septembre, le jour du chaos (September 11, a Day of Chaos), Pocket, 2013 ; Perrin, 2011. 

- Le Guide des élections américaines, (A Guide to the 2012 US Elections), Perrin, 2012.

- Le Petit livre des élections américaines (A Guide to the 2008 US Elections), Panama, 2008.

- L’Amour expliqué à nos enfants (Love explained to Our Children), Seuil, 2000.

Nicole Bacharan

- La Plus Résistante de toutes, Stock, 2023 ; Points, 2025 (Prix Simone Veil).

- Le Monde selon Trump (The World According to Trump), Tallandier, 2019. 

- Du Sexe en Amérique, une autre histoire des Etats-Unis (Sex and Gender Across Three Centuries : A Different History of the United States), Robert Laffont, 2016.

- Etats-Unis, la nouvelle lutte des classes (America’s New Class Warfare : A Debate) with Ezra Suleiman, Omniscience, 2012. 

- La Plus belle histoire des femmes (The Great History of Women), Seuil, 2011. 

- Les Noirs américains, des champs de coton à la Maison Blanche, Perrin, 2010. 

- La Plus belle histoire de la liberté, avec André Glucksmann and Abdelwahab Meddeb, afterword by Vaclav Havel, Seuil, 2009; Points, 2011. 

- Pourquoi nous avons besoin des Américains (Long Live the Transatlantic Alliance ), Seuil, 2007.

- Américains-Arabes, l’affrontement (America vs the Arab World), avec Antoine Sfeir, Seuil, 2006.

- Faut-il avoir peur de l’Amérique? (Should We Be Afraid of America?), Seuil, 2005.

- Irak, An 1, (Iraq, One Year Later), contributed chapter, Le Rocher, 2004. 

- Good Morning America (The Men and Women Who Made and Changed America), Seuil, 2000.

- Le Piège ou quand la démocratie perd la tête (The Clinton Impeachment or American Democracy Upside Down), Seuil, 1999.

- Histoire des Noirs américains au XXème siècle (A History of African-Americans in the 20th Century), Complexe, 1994.

- Le MRP et l’intégration européenne (The Christian Democrats and European Integration), Complexe, 1992. 

Fiction with Dominique Simonnet

- Némo dans les étoiles, Seuil, 2004.

- Némo en Egypte, Seuil, 2002.

- Némo en Amérique, Seuil, 2001.

- Le livre de Némo, Seuil, 1998.

Documentaries

Author of documentary films

- Elections et Conventions: De George Washington à CNN (1996)

- Mister Vice President (1996)

- Obama-Clinton: Les Secrets d’une Rivalité (2016)

Participation in numerous documentaries

The Lewinsky Scandal (RMC 2019)

Aretha Franklin (France Culture 2019)

Martin Luther King (Outside Films 2019)

American Umpire (Shell Studios 2019)

Sexuality, A Medical Adventure (France TV 2018)

Post Truth Era (France TV 2018)

1958: They Said No to the Constitution (LCP 2018)

Trump One Year Later (CNews 2018)

Watergate (RMC 2017)

President Trump (CNews 2017)

The Roaring Twenties (France TV 2016)

Walt Disney (TNT 2015)

Malcolm X (RTBF 2015)

Mohammed Ali (RTBF 2015)

OJ Simpson (NRJ12 2014)

Barack Obama (France TV 2012)

Press, TV and Radio,

Consultant on US affairs and transatlantic relations

TV programs

- France : France 5, LCI, TF1, France 2, France 3, France 24, TV5, M6, BFM-TV, Arte.

- Israël : I 24.

- Suisse : RTBF.

- Etats-Unis : ABC, Bloomberg, CNN, ABC 

Radio

- France : Europe 1 (consultant, 2003-2015), RTL, France Culture, France Inter (consultante 1996-2003), France Info, RCJ.

- Suisse : Radio Suisse Romande, Radio Suisse Italienne, Léman Bleu.

- Belgique: RTBF.

- Etats-Unis : NPR.

Local, national and foreign press

- France : Ouest France (éditorialiste), Franc-Tireur, Le Figaro, Le Figaro Magazine, l’Express, Le Point, Le Monde, Le Nouvel Observateur, Le Nouvel Economiste, Elle, Libération, Le Parisien, Direct Matin, 20 Minutes, Grazia, Causette, Huffington Post, Slate, Atlantico, Paris Match, Politique Internationale, l’Histoire, Actualité Juive.

- Presse régionale : Presse Océan, Le Maine Libre, La République du Centre, La Dépêche, La Voix du Nord.

- Etats-Unis : The New York Times, the Washington Post. 

- Suisse : Le Temps, La Tribune de Genève.

- Belgique : La Libre Belgique, Le Soir.

- Irlande : The Irish Times

- Pologne : Gazeta Wiborcza

Selected speaking engagements

Universities, research institutions, and think tanks

- La Pietra Dialogues NYU Florence (2012-2016) 

- ILERI (Institut Libre d’Etudes des Relations Internationales)

- HEC

- NYU Paris

- Bar Ilan France

- IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale)

- IFRI (Institut Français des Relations Internationales) 

- Institut Thomas Moore

- Méditerranée du Futur

- Rencontres Internationales Géopolitiques de Trouville

- Franco-British Council Defense Conference

- Alliance Francaise : lecture tour across the United States, St. Louis (MO), Minneapolis (Macalester College), Atlanta, Birmingham (AL), New York, and Washington DC.

Cultural organizations and nonprofits

- Armées Zone Ouest

- French American Foundation

- France-Amerique

- France-Etats-Unis

- American Club of Paris

- Association of American Residents Overseas

- Société de Lecture de Genève

- La Paix Maintenant

- Rotary Club

- CRIF

- CVA (Connaissance et Vie d’Aujourd’hui)

- Conference ARRI

- Chaîne de l’Espoir

- Carrefour Dauphine

Industry associations and private sector

- Crédit Agricole

- CIC

- Union des Banques Suisses

- Groupama

- Bank of New York - Nellon

- Accenture

- Barclays

- Crédit Agricole

- EDF

- Generali Patrimoine

- Groupama

- PSA

- Saint-Gobain

- HRA Pharma

- Exane BNP Paribas

- Natixis

- Croissance Plus

- Arcaneo

- Chambre de Commerce et Industrie

- Universités de Pharmaceutiques

- Chambre de Commerce France-Israël

- Université du Medef

- Ordre des Avocats de Paris

Memberships

- Cercle de l’Union Interalliée

- Association PDFM (Pour les femmes dans les médias), Mentoring Program since 2019

- Club L-Femmes Forum