Americans in Paris: Life and Death under Nazi Occupation

by Charles Glass, Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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 Charles Glass tells the story of a remarkable cast of expatriates and their struggles in Nazi Paris.

Before the Second World War began, approximately 30,000 Americans lived in Paris, and when war broke out in 1939, almost 5,000 remained. As citizens of a neutral nation, the Americans in Paris believed they had little to fear. They were wrong. Glass’ discovery of letters, diaries, war documents, and police files reveals as never before how Americans were trapped in a web of intrigue, collaboration, and courage.

Artists, writers, scientists, playboys, musicians, cultural mandarins, and ordinary businessmen—all were swept up in extraordinary circumstances and tested as few Americans before or since. These stories come together to create a unique portrait of an eccentric, original, and diverse American community.

Charles Glass has written an exciting, fast-paced, and elegant account of the moral contradictions faced by Americans in Paris during France’s dangerous occupation years. For four hard years, from the summer of 1940 until U.S. troops liberated Paris in August 1944, Americans were intimately caught up in the city’s fate. Americans in Paris is an unforgettable tale of treachery by some, cowardice by others, and unparalleled bravery by a few.

Audible Audio

Published November 23, 2010

About the author

Charles Glass is an author, journalist and broadcaster, who specializes in the Middle East. He made headlines when taken hostage for 62 days in Lebanon by Shi’a militants in 1987, while writing a book during his time as ABC’s News chief Middle East correspondent. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books, Harper’s, the London Review of Books and The Spectator. He is the author of Syria Burning, Tribes with Flags, Money for Old Rope, The Tribes Triumphant, The Northern Front, Americans in Paris and Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II.

Reviews

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, Mr Glass! About the WW2 life of various people leading up to the occupation of France by the Nazis, and the events thereafter. Strong narrative reads like a mini-series in your head. Good guys. Bad guys. People in the arts, others in the medical field, or the Resistance. The interplay between Vichy France, the Nazis, the victims, is really well done.
Charles Bedaux's life alone is a helluva story arch. There's a movie needing to be made about Bedaux. He was connected to everyone it seems, that was shaping WW 2.
Dr Sumner Jackson is another, in his incredible feats of keeping his hospital open, as well as working with the Underground on the sly.
Its got intrigue. It keeps you coming back, a book you dont put down for long. There's nothing much more pleasing than a great book like this. And best of all, it's non-fiction. These were real people.