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The Blood Of Free Men: The Liberation Of Paris, 1944 (2012)

by Michael Neiberg(Favorite Author)

4.12 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0465023991 (ISBN13: 9780465023998)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Basic Books

review 1: An excellent and moving history of the liberation of Paris, August 18-25, 1944, nearly 70 years ago. Since visiting Paris last year I've been voraciously consuming histories, especially of WW II and the occupation. Leaves me thinking about picking up a biography of Charles De Gaulle to learn more about the complex leader who seized the opportunity to create a new government before the smoke had cleared.
review 2: A defining case of "it's not that simple," this is a fine account of the messy, complicated and harrowing last days of the German occupation of Paris in 1944. Using memoirs and military records Neiberg reconstructs the actions of a wide cast of actors--the factions of the resistance arguing the future of the republic they had sacrificed to save, De Ga... moreulle and his rivals, the American and British planners deciding the strategic importance of a city and the weight of responsibility for millions of nearly starving people, the Vichy Milice realizing their time was nearly up, the collaborators large and small, the German officers of the occupation, the ordinary citizens pining for food by wearing tricoleur hair ribbons, and bizarrely, a visiting circus. Despite having a large number of people acting nearly simultaneously in a short period of time, Neiberg characterizes them vividly and keeps all of the plates spinning compellingly, with details that are breathtakingly defiant (using restaurant chalkboards to convey messages) and heartbreaking (the grim jokes). Care is taken to handle the quiet parts, like the brave diplomacy that knitted together the resistance groups into working together, or the backbone provided by the Paris police, whose earlier cooperation with repression made their decisions extremely grey. The endnotes are a very useful and valuable collection of available materials--the audio of De Gaulle's entrance to Notre Dame with gunshots is bookmarked for my classes. Most of all, the book underlines that the liberation was not a single moment in time, but part of a chain of events stretching back lifetimes (Spanish Civil War experience, a childhood love of the city by a Swedish consul) and ahead into the future Republic (the Gaullist political organization, the generation who met their spouses in the celebrations in the park). less

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