Paris After the Liberation 1944-1949 - Hardcover

Beevor,Antony And Artemis Cooper

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241134374 ISBN 13: 9780241134375

Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, 1994

Synopsis

Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Paris from the Nazis, this is a social and cultural history of post-war Paris. Against an atmosphere charged with powerful emotional and intellectual changes, every aspect of Parisian life is portrayed - from the streets and the cafes to fashion houses and painters' salons. The authors interviewed many key witnesses from the period and had access to archival material from Washington, Moscow, London and Paris itself. Hemingway, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Dior, Picasso and de Gaulle are among the many characters which the authors attempt to bring to life.

About this title

Review:

A rich and intriguing story which the authors disentangle with great skill (Piers Paul Read Sunday Telegraph)

Skilfully balances historical narrative with social analysis, and tempering the appalling with the absurd (Jan Morris Independent)

Outstanding. Enormously enjoyable to read - exciting, lively, funny, and admirably tolerant and objective in its opinions. It is hard to see how it could have been better done (Philip Ziegler Daily Telegraph)

Held me gripped by every page and I was impatient at any interruption. The details of this book are spellbinding, often frightening and sometimes funny (Alec Guinness Daily Mail)

This book, like the city it discusses, oscillates satisfyingly between blunt history and roistering gossip (Frank Delaney Sunday Express)

To understand France today you should read this book about France yesterday . . . a wonderfully enjoyable picture. It is compulsive reading (Mark Bonham-Carter Evening Standard)

There is hardly any aspect of French life during that period which the authors do not explore, always with compelling liveliness and omniverous zeal. . . I shall return gratefully to it again and again (Alistair Horne The European)

A perceptive portrait of Paris in its heyday (J. G. Ballard The Times)

A beautifully written book about a vast tapestry of military, political and social upheaval. Remarkably well-researched, wise, balanced, very funny at times . . . I was a witness to events in Paris in the first desperate, glorious, mad weeks, and this is just how it was (Dirk Bogarde)

A dashing, multi-dimensional story. This book covers all aspects of life - diplomacy, strategy, rationing, politics and politicking (from Churchill, Pétain's and de Gaulle's point of view), the international theatricals and the tourist invasion, blitzkrieg and Ritzkrieg - to create a lovely tapestry, threaded with facts and figures (Olivier Todd Sunday Times)

From the Back Cover:

'A beautifully written book about a vast tapestry of military, political and social upheaval. Remarkably well-researched, wise, balanced, very funny at times . . . I was a witness to events in Paris in the first desperate, glorious, mad weeks, and this is just how it was'
Dirk Bogarde

Post-liberation Paris: an epoch charged with political and conflicting emotions. Liberation was greeted with joy but marked by recriminations and the trauma of purges. The feverish intellectual arguments of the young took place amidst the mundane reality of hunger and fuel shortages. This is a thrilling, unsurpassed account of the drama and upheaval of one of history's most fascinating eras.

'A dashing, multi-dimensional story. This book covers all aspects of life - diplomacy, strategy, rationing, politics and politicking (from Churchill, Pétain's and de Gaulle's point of view), the international theatricals and the tourist invasion, blitzkrieg and Ritzkrieg - to create a lovely tapestry, threaded with facts and figures'
Olivier Todd, Sunday Times

'Absorbing . . . a rich, many-layered account, selecting from official documents, private archives, memoirs and histories with a wonderful lightness of touch, so that the most complex events become clear' Jenny Uglow, Independent on Sunday

About this edition

• Publisher: Hamish Hamilton
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0241134374
• ISBN 13: 9780241134375
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 544