PARIS 1944

Intriguing perspectives that balance myths and realities about the occupation and liberation of Paris during World War II.

Historian and former foreign correspondent Bishop, author of Operation Jubilee, presents a sweeping depiction of the occupation by, and liberation from, Nazi forces in Paris in 1944. The author conducted an extraordinary amount of research for this book, and his experience living and working in Paris as a newspaper correspondent adds a valuable sensibility to the narrative, particularly in his analysis of the political and social contexts of prewar Paris and the stark privation and fear endured by Parisians at the hands of the Nazis. The author examines Paris as a fixed idea or concept of high artistic and cultural stability in the minds of people around the world, how the impact of its capture by Hitler seemed to extinguish a light in the world, and the profoundly gleeful celebration upon that light rekindling. He tells this story through the eyes of several artistic and literary figures such as Picasso, Salinger, and Hemingway, famous and unknown fighters in the French Resistance, and the leaders of Vichy France and Charles de Gaulle, who “understood brilliantly the power that the city on the Seine exercised over the world’s imagination.” At times, the number of people Bishop profiles are so numerous that a roster or scorecard seems necessary, and some readers may wish for a more succinctly vivid description of occupied Paris, like that found in Mark Helprin's novel Paris in the Present Tense. Still, Bishop effectively weaves the various and oftentimes intersecting stories into a fascinating and enlightening narrative that serves as an entertaining social history of World War II–era Paris. The book includes maps, illustrations, and extensive source notes for each chapter.

A unique account of the liberation of the City of Light.