ASULON EUROPE

How to Be French: Nationality in the Making Since 1789 by Patrick Weil, translated from the French by Catherine Porter Duke University Press, 438 pp., $89.95; $24.95 (paper)

Integrating Islam: Political and Religious Challenges in Contemporary France by Jonathan Laurence and Justin Vaisse Brookings Institution Press, 342 pp., $52.95; $22.95 (paper)

Do you want to become French? It may be easier than you think. Patrick Weil tells us that George Washington was made an honorary French citizen in 1792, and that Bill Clinton, born in Arkansas on what had once been French soil, as part of the Louisiana Territory, was until recently eligible to apply for French citizenship (he did not do so).

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=22571