112 Gripes about the French: The 1945 Handbook for American GIs in Occupied France

by Leo Rosten

When American troops arrived in Paris at the end of World War II, they were at first welcomed by the local population. However, the French soon began to resent the Americans for their brashness and display of wealth, while the Americans found the French and their habits equally irritating and incomprehensible: they bathed too little, drank too much, and were almost unfailingly unfriendly.

To bridge the cultural divide, the American generals commissioned this surprisingly candid guide that paired common complaints about the French with answers aimed at promoting understanding. From the fascinations of French nightlife to Gallic grooming and fashions, the guide sought to correct the misconceptions behind a litany of common complaints: Laissez-faire is not in fact a call to laziness, and the French do not play checkers in cafés all day—though they do extol the virtues of a leisurely lunch. The moral principles of the Frenchwoman ought not to be drawn from the few one might find loitering on the fringes of the camp.

Beyond their intended instructive purposes, the grievances included in the guide are at times as revealing of the preconceptions of the American servicemen as they are of the French, as well as offering fascinating insight into the details of daily life immediately after the war, including the acute poverty, the shortage of food and supplies, and the scale of destruction suffered by France during the six years of conflict. Illustrated throughout with charming cartoons and written in a direct, no-nonsense style, 112 Gripes about the French is by turns amusing and thought-provoking in its valiant stand against prejudice and stereotype.

Genres: History

120 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2013

About the author

Leo Calvin Rosten was born in Lodz, Russian Empire (now Poland) and died in New York City. He was a teacher and academic, but is best known as a humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism and Yiddish lexicography.

Reviews

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

File with Chrysanthemum and the Sword: limited but good-hearted practical anthropology.

I doubt anything this well-written would escape a military bureaucracy these days.

[Chauncey Seeger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clever manual to combat French stereotypes and raise American morale in post-WW2 France.

[John Newcomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A curious little book that was written for American servicemen stationed in France in 1945 trying to explain the cultural differences, many of which ring true today.

[أمين الحرشاني]

قراءة في كتاب :
" 112 gripes about the French "

واحد من ألطف الكتب التي قرأتها في المدة الأخيرة .

طبع هذا الكتاب ونشر أواخر عام 1945 ووزع مجانا للقوات الأمريكية المقيمة في فرنسا المحررة . و هو عبارة عن 112 سؤال و جواب عن أسئلة كثيرة قد تدور في خلد الجندي الأمريكي المتمركز في فرنسا عشية الحرب العالمية الثانية. من أسئلة يومية بسيطة مثل " لماذا الأسعار غالية في فرنسا بعد الحرب ؟ " أو " لماذا يقود الفرنسيون بسرعة ؟ " إلى أسئلة أخرى أعمق و أكبر من قبيل " لما هزم الفرنسيون بسرعة عام 1940 ؟ " ، " هل الفرنسيون أقرب إلينا أم الألمان ؟ " " هل أنقذنا فرنسا مرتين عام 1917 و عام 1944 ؟ " و " ماذا قدمت لنا فرنس حتى نسارع لنجدتها ؟ " وبطبيعة الحال تكون الردود في غاية البلاغة والايجاز والافحام طالما أن واضعها قد عمد لوضعها قبل حتى اختيار الأسئلة .
الأجوبة و ان كانت عقلانية في الأغلب إلا أنها لم تكن قد تجاوزت بعد خطاب وسط الحرب . رغم مرور أشهر عن استسلام ألمانيا غير أن التبجح بهزيمتها و بالانتصار على الاعداء الازليين و قوى الشر النازية لا زال صريحا . وهو أمر متوقع في عالم لم يخرج بعد من سكرة الحرب .
من النقاط المهمة في هذا الكتاب هو طابعه " التطهيري " ان جاز التعبير ، فعديد الأسئلة والاجوبة المقدمة لها هي في الواقع إجابة غير مباشرة على أفكار وادعاءات من الممكن ان تكون قد تسربت بين الجنود الأمريكان من طرف الألمان أثناء الحرب و من ذلك " الفرنسيون جبناء " و " الفرنسيون أغلبهم متعاونون مع النازيين " . وسيرد في الأجوبة إسم غوبلز وزير الدعاية النازية مرتين .
ما يلاحظ أيضا بين سطور هذا الكتيب هو الحقيقة التي أسفرت عليها الحرب العالمية الثانية : عالم جديد قام وقوى كبرى ظهرت متمثلة أساسا في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية و أخرى تقهقرت للوراء كامبراطورية فرنسا الاستعمارية . عندما تجد أجوبة كاملة وضعت لتبين اسهامات فرنسا للادب والفكر والعلوم العالمية و اقناع الامريكيين بانهم يقفون على أرض يوما ما كانت عظيمة هو في حد ذاته استبطان لفكرة التفوق هذا . الأمر نفسه ينسحب على أسئلة أخرى من قبيل " لماذا بنيتنا التحية وصناعتنا أفضل من تلك التي توجد في فرنسا " أو لماذا " ثياب الجنود الفرنسيين دائما متسخة " .
كتاب خفيف و طريف في بابه، يمكن قراءته للتسلية، تسلية عل تراجيديا شعوب .

[victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

so this is a little book for usamerican soldiers in france to make them less anti-french... it's a bunch of statements (112 in fact) followed by refutations. yeah👍
well idk anything to say about this really. Fascinating historically. sometimes the refutations are not very good, like the reasoning is bad. well i liked the bit where it was like "don't say that certain ethnicities have 'inborn traits', that's nazi ideology" like it is really better than i expected from this. also if i may say, (statement): "I'd like the French a lot better if they were cleaner." (refutation): "That's perfectly understandable." was quite funny. why include that 3

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

First published in 1945 by the Information & Education Division of the US Occupation Forces in Paris. It was meant to help the American military understand the French troops and people -- since they were occupying France and apparently didn't have a clue. Quite refreshing for its lack of political correctness.

[Emily]

This little booklet clued me into the existence of the Evzones, or what is known today as the the Greek Presidential Guard, and for that alone, it was worth reading.

[Jérémie Moritz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent to see how American soldiers were introduced to France, cliches but also the important questions they had at the time. Very nice short read.

[Erwan Moysan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in an old-timey voice throughout, it was funny.

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

These pamphlets are so fascinating!

[Rhode PVD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well. I would have enjoyed this much more if it had been what you expect from the title. Which is not very nice if me at all, but there you have it.

This is basically a PR/ educational effort by the U.S. to give troops in 1945 some background about the country they were occupying. Mainly so they didn't mess up,and upset any more natives than they absolutely had to. (Hence such explainers as "all Frenchwomen are not immoral.")

We should have kept on publishing these in a series to be required reading on transatlantic flights from then on, to help stop the spread of the Ugly American. Sadly we did not.

[Marc Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

.

[N. N. Santiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is this really written by Leo Rosten? I can't find anything to confirm it, though the timing would support the claim, as would the number of questions answered by another question...