France is a seductive country, seductive in its elegance, its beauty, its sensual pleasures, and its joie de vivre. But Elaine Sciolino, the longtime Paris bureau chief of The New York Times, reveals that seduction is much more than a game to the French: it is the key to understanding France. Seduction lies at the essence of the French approach to human relations, and it is the ever-present subtext for how the French relate to one another - not just in romantic relationships but also in how they conduct business, enjoy food and drink, define style, engage in intellectual debate, elect policitians, and project power around the world. While sexual repartee and conquest remain at the heart of seduction, for the French seduction has become a philosophy of life, even an ideology, that can confuse outsiders.