When Paris Went Dark, Ronald C. Rosbottom
When Paris Went Dark, Ronald C. Rosbottom
3 Rating(s)
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

When Paris Went Dark
The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944

Author: Ronald C. Rosbottom

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Unabridged: 14 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/05/2014

Synopsis

The spellbinding and revealing chronicle of Nazi-occupied Paris.

On June 14, 1940, German tanks entered a silent and nearly deserted Paris. Eight days later, France accepted a humiliating defeat and foreign occupation. Subsequently, an eerie sense of normalcy settled over the City of Light. Many Parisians keenly adapted themselves to the situation-even allied themselves with their Nazi overlords.

At the same time, amidst this darkening gloom of German ruthlessness, shortages, and curfews, a resistance arose. Parisians of all stripes -- Jews, immigrants, adolescents, communists, rightists, cultural icons such as Colette, de Beauvoir, Camus and Sartre, as well as police officers, teachers, students, and store owners -- rallied around a little known French military officer, Charles de Gaulle.

When Paris Went Dark evokes with stunning precision the detail of daily life in a city under occupation, and the brave people who fought against the darkness. Relying on a range of resources -- memoirs, diaries, letters, archives, interviews, personal histories, flyers and posters, fiction, photographs, film and historical studies -- Rosbottom has forged a groundbreaking book that will forever influence how we understand those dark years in the City of Light.

About Ronald C. Rosbottom

Ronald C. Rosbottom is the Winifred L. Arms Professor in the Arts and Humanities and a professor of French, European Studies, and Architectural Studies at Amherst College. Previously he was Dean of the Faculty at Amherst; he is a Chevalier de l’Académie des Palmes Académiques. His previous book, When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944, was longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. He divides his time between Amherst, Massachusetts, and Paris.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Laurie on December 16, 2014

I rarely, rarely, write negative reviews about books I've read. I figure that taste is subjective, and just because I didn't like something doesn't mean it's "bad." But I take exception with this book; it infuriated me. It is not necessarily history, but a 400-page long reflection on communal psycho......more

Goodreads review by KOMET on August 19, 2015

Last month, I attended a book reading at a local bookstore that was given by the author, who later graciously autographed my copy of this book. For personal reasons, Paris is a city that thrills and excites my imagination and interest. (I grew up on stories of "la Ville-Lumière" from my father, who......more

Goodreads review by Lewis on October 23, 2018

An excellent report on what it was like to be in Paris during the Nazi occupation ... and a convincing denunciation of the way the French gave in to the Nazis at every step of the way and became unresisting (enthusiastic?) collaborators in the deportation of Jews to their deaths ... In March 1942, t......more

Goodreads review by Andie on August 13, 2023

When I was in Paris on my honeymoon in 1976, I went with my husband, who is a military history buff, to the War Museum at the Invalides in Paris. When we came to the part in the exhibit that covered Frances surrender to the Germans in 1940, we were stunned to find that the surrender and the subseque......more

Goodreads review by Jan C on September 07, 2018

This was okay. Fairly interesting at times. Tale of how Parisians coped with occupation. Mostly anecdotal. But how else would the tale of Parisians coping with occupation be told? History is anecdotal. I once had a history professor who said we need stories to hang our hats on. We need the stories t......more

Quotes

"Ronald C. Rosbottom's rigorously researched and deeply compelling book, When Paris Went Dark, examines the relationship between the occupiers and the occupied, specifically how the vanquished Parisians either fought against or adapted to the conditions imposed by their Nazi rulers....Rosbottom strikes a perfect tone that is neither too scholarly nor too familiar and produces a chronicle that edifies as it entertains."—Malcom Forbes, Minneapolis StarTribune

"Ronald C. Rosbottom's When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944 resonated eerily with 2017 America. From its analysis of the French right's rise to power and the many attempts to deny what was occurring, to its nuanced exploration of how both government and average French citizen resisted--or collaborated with--the occupiers, this book is a compelling, sobering warning about the dangers of complacency in the face of intolerance."—Celeste Ng, Wall Street Journal

"A well-rounded overview....The strength of Mr. Rosbottom's book lies in the details he has culled from memoirs, letters, papers, films, plays, songs, and diaries that illuminate the experience of both the occupiers and the occupied."—Caroline Moorehead, Wall Street Journal

"A profound historical portrait of Paris for anyone who loves the city." — Dallas Morning News

"A riveting account of one of the most resonant hostage-takings in history: the 1,500 days when a swastika flew from the Eiffel Tower. Ronald Rosbottom illuminates every corner of a darkened, heartsick city, exploring the oddities, capturing the grisly humor, and weighing the prices of resistance, accommodation, collaboration. The result is an intimate, sweeping narrative, astute in its insight and chilling in its rich detail."—Stacy Schiff, author of Cleopatra, A Great Improvisation, and Véra

"When Paris Went Dark recounts, through countless compelling stories, how Nazi occupation drained the light from Paris and how many of its residents resisted in ways large and small. This is a rich work of history, a brilliant recounting of how hope can still flourish in the rituals of daily life."—Scott Turow, author of Identical

"Ronald Rosbottom has recreated the Parisian world during the dark days of the German occupation like no previous writer I know. His secret is two-fold: first, exhaustive research that allows him to recover what we might call the importance of the ordinary; and second, a shrewd grasp of how memory works, often in strange ways."—Joseph J. Ellis, Ford Foundation Professor Emeritus at Mount Holyoke College, author of Founding Brothers, American Sphinx, and Revolutionary Summer

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List