In his youth, Druon had cowritten the lyrics to "Chant des Partisans" (1943), a popular French Resistance anthem of World War II. In 1948 he received the Prix Goncourt for his novel "". Though Ben Milne of the BBC noted in 2014 that Druon is "barely known in the English-speaking world", American author George R. R. Martin called the author "France's best historical novelist since Alexandre Dumas, "père"". Martin dubbed "The Accursed Kings" "the original game of thrones", citing Druon's novels as an inspiration for his own series "A Song of Ice and Fire", which has been adapted for television as "Game of Thrones". Martin's UK publisher HarperCollins began reissuing the long out of print "Accursed Kings" series in 2013, with Martin himself writing an introduction. He wrote: