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38th out of 75 books
—
73 voters
Americans in Paris: life and death under Nazi occupation 1940-1944
When the German army marched into Paris on June 14, 1940, approximately 5,000 Americans remained in Paris. They had refused or been unable to leave for many different reasons; their actions during the course of the German occupation would prove to be just as varied. Glass interweaves the experiences of some of the individuals who belonged to this unique colony of American...more
Hardcover, 524 pages
Published
2009
by HarperPress
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Although I found the book to be quite an interesting read, it pales in comparison with the similarly themed "And the Show Went On". For one thing, the book is too long (some of the short 2-3 page chapters should have been cut) and the author's style is a bit dry. The author is determined to squeeze every last detail out of the sources of evidence that he has tracked down and crammed them in his narrative. Entire pages have nothing to do with Americans' experiences in Paris but are set in North A...more
Glass brings to life a time that seems far away today when you are strolling and admiring the streets of lovely Paris, yet it was not all that long ago that the city and its citizen endured the brutal Nazi war machine. This is the story of a number of Americans, ranging from an industrialist, to a doctor who gave his life in the Resistance movement, to Sylvia Beach and her famed Shakespeare and Co. bookstore. Each person profiled chose to stay in spite of warnings to leave and each had his or he...more
Feb 07, 2011
Kathleen Hagen
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2011-audio-books,
2011-nonfiction
Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation, by Charles Glass, narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner, produced by Blackstone Audio, downloaded from audible.com.
Publisher’s note says it all:
Acclaimed journalist Charles Glass looks to the American expatriate experience of Nazi-occupied Paris to reveal a fascinating forgotten history of the
greatest generation. In Americans in Paris, tales of adventure, intrigue, passion, deceit, and survival unfold season by season as renowned journalist
Char...more
Publisher’s note says it all:
Acclaimed journalist Charles Glass looks to the American expatriate experience of Nazi-occupied Paris to reveal a fascinating forgotten history of the
greatest generation. In Americans in Paris, tales of adventure, intrigue, passion, deceit, and survival unfold season by season as renowned journalist
Char...more
I'm a WWII geek, so I eat up stuff like this, especially nonfiction. Charles Glass has done an amazing amount of research about the handful of people whose stories he shares, in some cases you might say almost to a fault.
That said, despite all the detail, I had to keep trudging through to find out what happened to these people by war's end.
If you're looking for lots of cool stories about the resistance, sadly there wasn't enough of that for me -- and what was there was really pretty low-key.
I al...more
That said, despite all the detail, I had to keep trudging through to find out what happened to these people by war's end.
If you're looking for lots of cool stories about the resistance, sadly there wasn't enough of that for me -- and what was there was really pretty low-key.
I al...more
The author, Charles Glass, uses vignettes from a variety of American ex-pats--who appear as repeating characters through the course of the book--to describe what life in Paris under Nazi occupation was like for individuals possessing American citizenship(either exclusively or in tandem with French citizenship) who lived there at the time. The story is gripping and the various people featured representative of a broad spectrum of individuals who made the city of light their home before and during...more
This is the engrossing story of those 2,000+ Americans who found a home in Paris and either refused to leave when the Nazis occupied the city or waited too late to escape. The author concentrates on a small and diverse group of these Americans and follows their activities from Occupation to Liberation.....they were either resistors, collaborators or tried to remain neutral just to stay alive. They were authors, aristocrats, physicians, and industrialists and each reacted in a manner which they t...more
This book follows the lives of a number of American citizens - some natural-born, some the French-born children of Americans parents, other naturalised citizens - who chose to remain behind in Paris following the invasion by the Nazis in 1940. Their lives are all very different, one a doctor in the American Hospital, another a bookseller, a third a naturalised business and entrepreneur; and they all chose very different paths in reaction to the German occupation, ranging from the extremes of res...more
I enjoyed the hell out of this. Beautifully researched. Parts of it brought me to tears because OMG what horrible things were done by human beings to other human beings. Other parts were just made of awesome. STRONG female component: lots of awesome women, several of whom were queer. Note that this is exactly what it says on the tin. The stories are of people holding American passports who stayed in Paris during the German occupation and what happened to them after the US declared war on Germany...more
More like 3.5. Lots of stories and backstories about people who stayed in France as the Nazis marched in. For example, I never knew that as all the French officials left Paris that summer of 1940, they put the American ambassador in charge of turning the city over to the Germans. Stories about African American soldiers were fascinating (and shameful to read how other Americans treated them). Sylvia Beach is here too, of course.
Readable but still detailed--I could picture the buildings and stree...more
Readable but still detailed--I could picture the buildings and stree...more
Loving all things Paris in the early 20th Century, I was really looking forward to reading this book. While the book attempts to focus upon certain key individuals during the occupation, I was never able to connect fully with them or their story, perhaps due to the book's format and too many other characters being woven into the chapters. I may have connected best if the book focused on one character's story at a time instead of dispersing the chapters. I am curious to see how others reacted to...more
Well researched book. The author seems to have merged biographies of Sumner Jackson, Charles Bedaux and others and laying them out in a coherent time line so that the stories intersect in a way. You couldn't ask for a more interesting bunch to write about but then again I assume most people with more conventional interests would have left Paris when they had the chance and not hung around to taste the Nazi occupation. It's interesting to see how some collaborated and some like Jackson went to th...more
An excellent account of historical events occurring in one of the cultural capitals of the world during one of the most intriguing, confusing, and disturbing periods of modern history. Glass uses an extremely accessible tone to discuss the events taking place within the scope of this book's focus, making it easy to get very quickly sucked in. However, I would caution readers that the accessible tone is mildly deceptive - this book will reference many, many personages across multiple chapters and...more
This is history brought to life. History is more than dates, facts, famous people and chronology, and this book is a wonderful reminder of the living breathing people living their lives during an uncommon time who make history in their unique way.
A wonderful selection of (historical) characters to tell the story of the occupation of Paris during WWII. Through each of the characters, you get a sense of the passion, desperation, heroism, loss and love that made up the lives of the people in Paris....more
A wonderful selection of (historical) characters to tell the story of the occupation of Paris during WWII. Through each of the characters, you get a sense of the passion, desperation, heroism, loss and love that made up the lives of the people in Paris....more
This is a sort of uneven read -- there are parts that are thrilling and fascinating, but long sections that are quite dry. The book focuses on a relatively large number of individuals, and I'm not sure that even a book of this length can devote enough space to each one to fix them all in the reader's mind. Several stuck out and as the book circled back to them, I was happy to see their threads picked back up, but there were a few who I kept having to refer back to remember who they were. Somethi...more
When the German army marched into Paris on June 14, 1940, approximately 5,000 Americans remained in Paris. They had refused or been unable to leave for many different reasons; their actions during the course of the German occupation would prove to be just as varied. Glass interweaves the experiences of some of the individuals who belonged to this unique colony of American expatriates living in Paris. Among the stories highlighted are those of Charles Bedaux, an American millionaire determined to...more
I could not, ultimately, finish it. It was too nonlinear and got hard to follow. Personages cycled through over and over and it was hard to track them or where the book was exactly in time and situation from chapter to chapter. I also found it a bit dry and lacking in personal, emotional details of the personages and the hows and whys of things. It started to feel like a really really long newspaper article, so I had to put it down and move on.
Difficult at times to read; not because of the author, rather the subject matter. The author's writing was clear and easy to follow. As with many histories, the number of names and the array of dates seemed to be a hopeless jumble. But the names become old friends as the book progresses and you feel you know them.
The Second Wold War was not always a moral war. There was nobility on the enemy's part and baseness from the Allies. The Americans in Paris and their stories showed how individuals deal...more
The Second Wold War was not always a moral war. There was nobility on the enemy's part and baseness from the Allies. The Americans in Paris and their stories showed how individuals deal...more
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O, what a depressing ending. Combined with And the Show Went On, this gives a pretty good view of what was going on in occupied Paris during World War II. The only thing that these books lack together is the military dimension. They each give it some attention, but it's not the main focus. Glass is more willing to judge and moralize than Riding was, though.
The author's straightforward, unemotional approach is dry. Following the occupation by viewing different Americans and their very different occupation experiences is interesting. The book also gives a good perspective of how other countries, England, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Africa etc. directly affected what was happening in France and America. I would recommend it but only if you have a sincere interest in this part of history. Not a light or quick read.
Apr 28, 2013
Ariane
marked it as did-not-finish
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
american-history,
world-history
Eh, having a hard time getting into this one. Too dry. The stories about African-Americans in occupied France are the most interesting part of the book, but if I'm being honest then I've got to say that, as for everybody else, I don't care. (And the chapter on the Bomb Plot in Paris is only about a page long. Boo! Hiss!) Oh well, I'm more of an Eastern Front kinda of gal myself but it was worth a shot. I'm always excited to find a book about American civilians in Europe during WWII. No rating th...more
1 like · like · see review
Highly readable and engrossing stories of those Americans who stayed in Paris during Nazi occupation. As the Allied forces moved into France, those Americans who stayed faced terrible danger, especially those who also worked in the Resistance. When caught they were sent to concentration camps and some were slaves in German factories. This 4th of July I am thankful for our freedom.
I am a Francophile, a true lover of all things French. Charles Glass is a renowned journalist and his treatment of the life of Americans in Paris prior and during World War II is a wonder. The book is filled with forgotten heroes and amazing acts of heroism. It is meticulously researched and a fascinating read. The book has all the excitement of a first rate novel.
It reminded me of a British Comedy that takes place in Paris, France. But without the humor. The only thing interesting about the book is that the some of the American woman that were taken prisoners were taken to the Zoo and were placed in the MOnkey cells and friends and family paid 5 francs for admission to see them. That was pretty low!
Author Charles Glass takes us through the lives of a select few of American expats who find themselves in Paris during the World War II German occupation and the entrance of the US into the war. This is my favorite kind of book. The characters are real The events actually happened! And you feel like each story would make the greatest novel!
I highly recommend this book 20th century history buffs!
I highly recommend this book 20th century history buffs!
Oct 06, 2011
Bridget
is currently reading it
Loving it so far! A very different point of view on the impact of German occupation of France. The most interesting, so far, is the arrest of American blacks in France and the lack of support they received from the embassy. Many were placed in concentration and internment camps for FIFTY MONTHS!
Love reading about the occupation. The book tracks fours years in the lives of people accused of everything from resistance to collaboration.
The atmosphere was helped through watching "Secret Army" - Brussels not Paris - you must remember this! Albert, Lisa, Monique, Natalie, Max, Kessler and Brandt ... and a whole heap of allied airmen. The drama ... not the comedy.
The atmosphere was helped through watching "Secret Army" - Brussels not Paris - you must remember this! Albert, Lisa, Monique, Natalie, Max, Kessler and Brandt ... and a whole heap of allied airmen. The drama ... not the comedy.
This was very readable history, but a lot to digest. Interesting aspects of the book included the logic of people supporting Vichy France, internment in the showcase camps, and the deprivation in Paris as well as dangers of friendly fire.
Excellent slice of history of the second world war from the perspective of americans in paris. I learned lots about what went on in paris. I enjoyed the never-ending gossipy stories of the many american and other personages in paris during the war.
Very interesting read. It was interesting to see the different perspectives of Americans in Paris regarding what they thought was collaboration. I sided more with the resistance movement when reading.
Not only am I actually reading a nonfiction history book, I'm having no trouble turning the pages like a madwoman and even tearing up with emotion. I'm pretty sure this might be the apocalypse.
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