After the death of his father, Didier Eribon returns to Reims, his hometown in northern France, after 30 years. This journey confronts him with a past he had severed all ties with, marking for the author a bold dive into his family history and social origins.

Eribon recalls the working-class world—the world of his childhood—and reconstructs the trajectory of his social ascent. Through this personal narrative, he develops his thoughts on social classes and the school system, the construction of identities and homosexuality, homophobia and racism, the Left and the Far Right, elections and democracy.

By reintegrating personal paths into the mechanisms of social reproduction and social exclusion, the author ultimately raises crucial questions about the multiplicity of forms that dominance takes and, consequently, resistance.

Returning to Reims is the autobiographical analysis of one of the most significant thinkers of our time, but also a now-classic work of sociology and critical theory. It achieved immense success in France, where it was published in 2009, and has been translated into many languages. In 2017, it was adapted and brought to the theater by Thomas Ostermeier.

Reading Returning to Reims was, among other things, pivotal for the author Édouard Louis, who dedicates his first book, How to End with Édouard Louis, to Eribon.