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Resistance and Betrayal: The Death and Life of the Greatest Hero of the French Resistance
“Enthralling and intelligent, a masterly exploration of
the sinister labyrinth that was wartime France . . .
It is a remarkable book, utterly fascinating.”
—Allan Massie
Not long after 2:00 p.m. on June 21, 1943, eight men met in secret at a doctor’s house in Lyon. They represented the warring factions of the French Resistance and had been summoned by General de Gaulle’s new envoy, a man most of them knew simply as “Max.”
Minutes after the last man entered the house, the Gestapo broke in, led by Klaus Barbie, the infamous “Butcher of Lyon.” The fate awaiting Barbie’s prisoners was torture, deportation, and death. “Max” was tortured sadistically but never he took his many secrets to his grave. In that moment, the legend of Jean Moulin was born.
Who betrayed Jean Moulin? And who was this enigmatic hero, a man as skilled in deception as he was in acts of heroism? After the war, his ashes were transferred to the Panthéon—France’s highest honor—where his memory is revered alongside that of Voltaire and Victor Hugo. But Moulin’s story is full of unanswered the truth of his life is far more complicated than the legend conveniently manufactured by de Gaulle.
Resistance and Betrayal tells for the first time in English the epic story of France’s greatest war hero, a Schindler-like character of ambiguous motivation. A winner of the Marsh Prize for biography, praised by Graham Greene and Julian Barnes, Patrick Marnham is a brilliant storyteller with a keen appreciation for the complex maze of moral compromises navigated in times of war. Told with the drama and suspense of the best espionage fiction, Resistance and Betrayal brings to life the dark and duplicitous world of the French Resistance and offers a startling conclusion to one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Second World War.
Praise for Patrick Marnham
Fantastic Invasion
“An exhilarating Swiftian excursion into human folly —
a brilliant book.” —Doris Lessing
“A writer afoot with a ruthless vision and armed with a literary style which burns away the surface of what it describes . . .
His main strength lies in his genius as a storyteller.”
—Jonathan Raban
The Man Who Wasn’t Maigret
“I doubt if there will be a better, or better-written, portrait of Simenon for a long time.” —Julian Barnes
“I can confidently say there will never be a better book on this subject. It makes absolutely compulsive reading.”
—A. N. Wilson
“Excellent, penetrating, fully researched and very well written . . . Adds to our understanding not only of Simenon’s art but of
the art of the novel itself.” —Muriel Spark
the sinister labyrinth that was wartime France . . .
It is a remarkable book, utterly fascinating.”
—Allan Massie
Not long after 2:00 p.m. on June 21, 1943, eight men met in secret at a doctor’s house in Lyon. They represented the warring factions of the French Resistance and had been summoned by General de Gaulle’s new envoy, a man most of them knew simply as “Max.”
Minutes after the last man entered the house, the Gestapo broke in, led by Klaus Barbie, the infamous “Butcher of Lyon.” The fate awaiting Barbie’s prisoners was torture, deportation, and death. “Max” was tortured sadistically but never he took his many secrets to his grave. In that moment, the legend of Jean Moulin was born.
Who betrayed Jean Moulin? And who was this enigmatic hero, a man as skilled in deception as he was in acts of heroism? After the war, his ashes were transferred to the Panthéon—France’s highest honor—where his memory is revered alongside that of Voltaire and Victor Hugo. But Moulin’s story is full of unanswered the truth of his life is far more complicated than the legend conveniently manufactured by de Gaulle.
Resistance and Betrayal tells for the first time in English the epic story of France’s greatest war hero, a Schindler-like character of ambiguous motivation. A winner of the Marsh Prize for biography, praised by Graham Greene and Julian Barnes, Patrick Marnham is a brilliant storyteller with a keen appreciation for the complex maze of moral compromises navigated in times of war. Told with the drama and suspense of the best espionage fiction, Resistance and Betrayal brings to life the dark and duplicitous world of the French Resistance and offers a startling conclusion to one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Second World War.
Praise for Patrick Marnham
Fantastic Invasion
“An exhilarating Swiftian excursion into human folly —
a brilliant book.” —Doris Lessing
“A writer afoot with a ruthless vision and armed with a literary style which burns away the surface of what it describes . . .
His main strength lies in his genius as a storyteller.”
—Jonathan Raban
The Man Who Wasn’t Maigret
“I doubt if there will be a better, or better-written, portrait of Simenon for a long time.” —Julian Barnes
“I can confidently say there will never be a better book on this subject. It makes absolutely compulsive reading.”
—A. N. Wilson
“Excellent, penetrating, fully researched and very well written . . . Adds to our understanding not only of Simenon’s art but of
the art of the novel itself.” —Muriel Spark
296 pages, Hardcover
First published March 19, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 15, 2014
Not exactly what I expected, but it was a good book that taught me more of what I wanted to know--the life/death of Jean Moulin. Marnham does quite a detailed job of researching and is detailed in his writing. It is difficult to find anything in English on this Resistance fighter. If you are interested in the French Resistance, Jean Moulin or WWII you will find this book interesting and informative.
April 23, 2017
Resistance and Betrayal: The Death and Life of the Greatest Hero of the French Resistance
By Marnham, Patrick
This is a nonfiction book about Jean Moulin who is considered the greatest hero of the French Resistance. It’s odd that this is actually part of the title considering that the author often veers into discrediting this belief.
The book meanders and is unfocused in my opinion. I’m not sure if this is a biography, an account of the French resistance, or a mystery. Sometimes it’s all three, but with poor integration. I’m also not totally sure what the author’s position is on Moulin. It’s a compelling history and, in the hands of a better storyteller, it could have been a lot more effective.
Jean Moulin came from a Republican family and had French communists as career allies. He was the prefect of a French province when the Nazis rolled in. He attempted suicide after being beaten for resisting their takeover. He eventually lost his position under the Vichy government and joined the French Resistance. He went to Great Britain and met with de Gaulle where he apparently lied (according to the author) about all sorts of things in France, including his own role in the Resistance. Nevertheless, de Gaulle chose to make Moulin his personal representative and ordered him to unite the French Resistance under one umbrella organization.
This did not go well. The French Resistance was composed of many organizations that were only unified by their hatred of the Nazis. There were fascists, nationalists, communists, de Gaullists in addition to just regular people. These groups were jockeying for position as to who would rule France after the Nazis left. In fact, after the Nazis lost, communist members of the French Resistance turned on other members and falsely accused them of being collaborators. There was torture and execution. It was a nightmare, according to the author.
Anyway, the author implies through most of the book that Jean Moulin was kind of a liar and possibly a communist sympathizer or even agent. No one in the Resistance liked him because they thought he trying to take control of them (and, therefore, France) in the name of de Gaulle. Then the author goes through an exhaustive list of all the candidates who possibly betrayed Moulin. He focuses on the Fascist suspects only to turn at the last minute to imply that Moulin was actually betrayed by the communists. And that Moulin was never a communist agent, but a double agent working for de Gaulle. The communists found out and betrayed him to the Germans.
If you followed that, then you must have read pretty carefully! I’m not sure I completely do myself. It’s an interesting and important subject, but requires a much better book and writer.
By Marnham, Patrick
This is a nonfiction book about Jean Moulin who is considered the greatest hero of the French Resistance. It’s odd that this is actually part of the title considering that the author often veers into discrediting this belief.
The book meanders and is unfocused in my opinion. I’m not sure if this is a biography, an account of the French resistance, or a mystery. Sometimes it’s all three, but with poor integration. I’m also not totally sure what the author’s position is on Moulin. It’s a compelling history and, in the hands of a better storyteller, it could have been a lot more effective.
Jean Moulin came from a Republican family and had French communists as career allies. He was the prefect of a French province when the Nazis rolled in. He attempted suicide after being beaten for resisting their takeover. He eventually lost his position under the Vichy government and joined the French Resistance. He went to Great Britain and met with de Gaulle where he apparently lied (according to the author) about all sorts of things in France, including his own role in the Resistance. Nevertheless, de Gaulle chose to make Moulin his personal representative and ordered him to unite the French Resistance under one umbrella organization.
This did not go well. The French Resistance was composed of many organizations that were only unified by their hatred of the Nazis. There were fascists, nationalists, communists, de Gaullists in addition to just regular people. These groups were jockeying for position as to who would rule France after the Nazis left. In fact, after the Nazis lost, communist members of the French Resistance turned on other members and falsely accused them of being collaborators. There was torture and execution. It was a nightmare, according to the author.
Anyway, the author implies through most of the book that Jean Moulin was kind of a liar and possibly a communist sympathizer or even agent. No one in the Resistance liked him because they thought he trying to take control of them (and, therefore, France) in the name of de Gaulle. Then the author goes through an exhaustive list of all the candidates who possibly betrayed Moulin. He focuses on the Fascist suspects only to turn at the last minute to imply that Moulin was actually betrayed by the communists. And that Moulin was never a communist agent, but a double agent working for de Gaulle. The communists found out and betrayed him to the Germans.
If you followed that, then you must have read pretty carefully! I’m not sure I completely do myself. It’s an interesting and important subject, but requires a much better book and writer.
August 24, 2020
I expected a lot of this book, especially living in Lyon quite close to Cailure, where Moulin was betrayed. Indeed, his memory is everywhere. Perhaps the most interesting part of the short life of France's most famous resister is in the betrayal and subsequent questions of who may have give the Gestapo details of the meeting in which he was apprehended, but the book falls short in the long-winded explanations - often confusing, I might add - of his rise to power as a politician. I found the middle section of the book to be quite drab despite its importance to Moulin's political influence and his shaping of the Resistance. The author seemed to flip-flop on his feelings towards Moulin, though this is a general feeling among the French, from what I gather.
I have put the Laurec book on my list, which seems more fast-paced.
I have put the Laurec book on my list, which seems more fast-paced.
May 16, 2020
Historic account about the French Resistance during the German Occupation
Interesting book by this gifted author. It can be a hard read based on the different characters and their part during the occupation of Paris. Informants everywhere, the gestapo, the communist factions and the anti communist, clearly no smoking guns anywhere. The war is coming to an end and reprisals everywhere. Innocents accused and shot dead, guilty parties surviving. The author has brought it all together magnificently and I highly recommend this book.
Interesting book by this gifted author. It can be a hard read based on the different characters and their part during the occupation of Paris. Informants everywhere, the gestapo, the communist factions and the anti communist, clearly no smoking guns anywhere. The war is coming to an end and reprisals everywhere. Innocents accused and shot dead, guilty parties surviving. The author has brought it all together magnificently and I highly recommend this book.
June 5, 2023
This was very well written and despite the confusing facts and acronyms, the author presented his thesis quite well.
I love the photos and also the timeline and notes at the end.
Fascinating, horrifying, and astounding hardly do Justice to the times described in this book.
I love the photos and also the timeline and notes at the end.
Fascinating, horrifying, and astounding hardly do Justice to the times described in this book.
February 1, 2024
Excellent book about the French Resistance during the second world war.
July 15, 2009
Looks like one of those to be taken with a Mountain of salt.. Before buying or reading, see comments on Amazon. Apparently this person (Jean Moulin) is a hero and anti-hero, depending on where on the political spectrum one is located. And, according to some, this book is completely non-objective and is written from a very partisan basis - with the goal of discrediting the entire French Resistance movement due to too great an alliance with the communists. Sigh.
So I'll likely only read it in conjunction with several others, preferably some of which are informative and objective, and some are skewed toward him being a hero. None of those books exist yet, so will have to wait a while.
So I'll likely only read it in conjunction with several others, preferably some of which are informative and objective, and some are skewed toward him being a hero. None of those books exist yet, so will have to wait a while.
January 30, 2011
An absolutely amazing story- but so painfully detailed and unpassionately written. A shame, because Jean Moulin was truly a great hero, and Marnham did a passable job of being unbiased and telling the negatives as well as the positives.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews