At a time when reindustrialization seems to be the subject of consensus and when industrial sovereignty is at the heart of national concerns, how to explain that France has become “a country that no longer knows how to manufacture what it consumes”? In fifty years, France has indeed emptied almost half of its factories and a third of its industrial jobs. Contrary to popular belief, this deindustrialization was not inevitable. It results from political choices, employer strategies and societal transformations. The testimonies of those who have orchestrated, suffered or analyzed this unindustrial revolution make it possible to understand this major mutation of the French economy.