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Europe in the Spring
Alfred A. Knopf
Date of 1940
hard cover
First Edition
Good/No Jacket
64mo - up to 3" tall Copyright date is 1940, 1st edition. Solid straight copy binding is tight. Book has no tears or bent pages. Only writing is a name written in pencil on inside cover and a number written in pencil on back inside cover. Light green tint to top edge of pages. Book has very minor shelf wear to edges and head and toe of the spine. A solid book.
Date of 1940
hard cover
First Edition
Good/No Jacket
64mo - up to 3" tall Copyright date is 1940, 1st edition. Solid straight copy binding is tight. Book has no tears or bent pages. Only writing is a name written in pencil on inside cover and a number written in pencil on back inside cover. Light green tint to top edge of pages. Book has very minor shelf wear to edges and head and toe of the spine. A solid book.
324 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1940
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 12, 2025
I picked up this book from a charity shop. The inscription hand written inside the cover compelled me to read it.
“To Uncle Char
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas
Nancy
Xmas 1943”
A glimpse into Clare Boothe’s observations of Europe in the spring of 1940. While travelling through countries just ahead of Hitler she gives a real time account of the chaos and upheaval inflicted on the population.
She questions democracy and where Americans fit into this war. Wonders if the American people really care about “liberty and justice for all”. Does that include other democracies around the world or just an isolated America.
I’m haunted as the reader, with knowledge of the events that followed.
Boothe concluded that”the situation as it stands in America is just about as it stood in the spring (1940) in Europe”. “If we don’t fight for our “Christian Democracy”,like this book,is at last finished”
The next sentence, her last sentence reads “These are the good old days now”
“To Uncle Char
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas
Nancy
Xmas 1943”
A glimpse into Clare Boothe’s observations of Europe in the spring of 1940. While travelling through countries just ahead of Hitler she gives a real time account of the chaos and upheaval inflicted on the population.
She questions democracy and where Americans fit into this war. Wonders if the American people really care about “liberty and justice for all”. Does that include other democracies around the world or just an isolated America.
I’m haunted as the reader, with knowledge of the events that followed.
Boothe concluded that”the situation as it stands in America is just about as it stood in the spring (1940) in Europe”. “If we don’t fight for our “Christian Democracy”,like this book,is at last finished”
The next sentence, her last sentence reads “These are the good old days now”
April 29, 2025
Many critics took issue with the self-referential (self-reverential?) tone of many of the anecdotes. But Boothe did get on that ship in 1940, when the war was underway. It took some courage. I found especially moving the chapter when she returns to Paris. The description of the refugee crisis in France reminds me of comtemporary situations.
But it is what she experienced AFTER she returned to the safety of the United States and had a few months to think about her time not just in Europe but among her compatriots that allowed her to write the last chapter, asking difficult questions about what Americans believe and stand for. Holding up a mirror to her contemporaries that would be useful to look into today in the spring of 2025, 85 years after her journey.
But it is what she experienced AFTER she returned to the safety of the United States and had a few months to think about her time not just in Europe but among her compatriots that allowed her to write the last chapter, asking difficult questions about what Americans believe and stand for. Holding up a mirror to her contemporaries that would be useful to look into today in the spring of 2025, 85 years after her journey.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews