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The Fall of Paris: June 1940, by Herbert R. Lottman
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A dramatic chronicle of the fall of one of the world's great cities covers the five weeks leading up to the German capture of Paris in 1940. By the author of The Left Bank. National ad/promo.
- Sales Rank: #2042395 in Books
- Published on: 1992-10
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.40" h x 6.50" w x 1.30" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 430 pages
From Publishers Weekly
The biographer of Flaubert, Colette, Petain and Camus here delivers an engrossing narrative account of one of the most traumatizing events of WW II. With a sharp eye for irony and incongruity, Lottman depicts the darkening of the City of Light during a notably lovely springtime as the German army approached and as rumors ran rampant--for instance, that German agents disguised as beggars, blind men, nuns and wounded French soldiers had infiltrated the city. The chronicle is rich in emotion and incident, with Lottman, Publishers Weekly 's European correspondent, relating the somber story largely as experienced by men and women who were there: then-colonel Charles de Gaulle, who commanded one of the few French units that stood and fought; high-school teacher Simone de Beauvoir, fretting over the fate of her soldier-lover Jean-Paul Sartre, on the Maginot Line; U.S. ambassador William Bullitt, rambunctious and self-dramatizing but also very courageous; and many other individuals, French and foreign, as they reacted to the national and personal crisis. Illustrated.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
On June 14, 1940, the German army entered an intact Paris and flew the swastika from the Arc de Triomphe. The French government had quietly departed, declaring the capital an open city. Lottman ( Flaubert: A Biography , LJ 2/1/89; Colette: A Life , LJ 11/1/90) gives us a day-by-day chronicle of events great and small from May 9, when blitzkrieg succeeded the "phony war," to the beginning of the occupation. His account is almost entirely from a Parisian perspective, disclosed through vivid but fragmentary accounts provided by dozens of public and private individuals who wrote diaries, gave interviews, or left other records. This method results in a sense of immediacy but makes for the disjointed narrative one would expect from cinematic short takes or a collage. The cumulative effect has considerable force, however. Recommended for academic and public libraries.
- R. James Tobin, Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lib.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Complete and Well Written History of Paris, May-June 1940
By John P. Rooney
"The Fall of Paris, June 1940", by Herbert R. Lottman, sub-titled, "A Dramatic Narrative of the Final Weeks in Paris Before Its Capture by the German Army". HarperCollins, 1992.
This is a lengthy, (410 pages), well written book, describing the last five weeks or so of Paris as a free city before occupation by the German Army. The author, Herbert Lottman, a Native New Yorker, has written on other French subjects, including Marshall Petain, Albert Camus and Flaubert so Lottman is well prepared for this book. Each day from May 9, 1940 to June 23, 1940 is covered in a single chapter. The author did exhaustive research for each chapter. The book is exceedingly complete. After some reading, the reader can be so overwhelmed by the wealth of information that Lottman provides, that the temptation is to sneak ahead to the June 14th Chapter. June 14, 1940, is the day that German troops actually entered Paris.
Lottman brings to life the main actors in the French government, including Premier Paul Reynaud, his ever-interfering mistress, the old general Philippe Petain, and newly promoted general, Charles De Gaulle. By referencing their writings, the author also tells the tales of famous people, such as Jena-Paul Sarte, the philosopher, Maurice Chevalier, the actor, and many different journalists, including William Shirer and Clare Booth Luce. He does not, however, limit the personal reminiscences to the rich and famous, but includes recollections of the common people, including the French sergeant ordered to blow up the Eiffel Tower. Interestingly, one of the more memorable individuals in the book is the American Ambassador to France, William C. Bullitt, a friend of President Franklin Roosevelt. I wonder if H. Lottman chose some of the statements and actions of Ambassador Bullitt to provide a form of comic relief for the serious subject in this serious book.
Even in such a scholarly work, errors creep in. On page 341, he writes, "There were policemen here and their along their way." Clearly, too many possesive "theirs" are present. He wanted, "There were policemen here and there along their way". On page 394, in describing the visit of Adolf Hitler to a conquered Paris, Lottman terms Hitler, "Reichsfuehrer". Hitler was just simply "Der Fuehrer" and it was Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) who had the title of "Reichsfuehrer". Overall, though, the book is well written and complete to the point of exhaustion.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Very Enlightening
By R. Ashley
Incredibly thorough, well researched, and nicely written. Contains countless stories about individuals who lived through these events. This book contains more personal accounts than battle details, which was refreshing. However, it was a tad too sparce on covering the battlefront, which made it sometimes seem disconnected from the big picture. A worthy read for anyone interested in the subject. Bravo!
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
The Fall of Herbert Lottman
By Donald P. Reed
The Fall of Paris, June 1940, Herbert Lottman [1927-2014]; HarperCollinsPublishers (1992 hardcover)
Post Note (02/15/16): Throw this thing in the garbage &, as soon as possible, get your hands on journalist Elliot Paul's classic, "The Last Time I Saw Paris" (Random House 1942).
*****
"The essence of good history is well-directed research that knows what to do & [what to] leave out, & also [written] extraordinarily well - & it involves people in their books."
--- An unidentified historian, paying a compliment to historian Martin Gilbert at the Politics & Prose Bookstore (WDC, 10/16/05; aired on CPAN3 on 01/27/08).
After finishing "The Fall of Paris," initially, I was going to quote the above as the reason why --- Lottman having failed on all counts save his extensive research --- two stars would be a more than generous appraisal. Nothing else. End of review.
Then… as the margin notes were assembled, came the gradual realization that I had finished reading one of the worst histories ever written.
The writing: Paceless, tedious & verbose. Sometimes it's necessary to slog through the first 100 pages until an author finds his “voice”; only then does the book become reading. With this in mind, on or about page 254 of "The Fall" is where you might start.
A) Despite this supposedly being a serious history, footnotes are missing. Also:
The “sources” at the end of the book do not provide "The Fall’s" page numbers that should correspond to the pages of the sources. If you want to check a source, you might have to read an entire book listed as that source.
(What is listed: The names of the authors, book titles, where published, publishers, & years of publication. Hypothetical example: “André Lemoine, Adieu, Paris: Gallimard, 1972.”)
B) There is no separate, alphabetized bibliography of sources (books, magazines, newspapers, archive files of unpublished materials, personal interviews, etc.).
Was André Lemoine’s “Adieu” used as a source? Start checking, on page 405. Persevere, if necessary, for the next eighteen pages.
C) “Index” issues (overlapping with "L, Unclear references, clumsy introductions,” see below) arose with these individuals & their entities:
Clare Booth Luce (American journalist, later congresswoman, & since 1935, wife of publisher Henry Luce); Alfred Duff Cooper (English prime minister Winston Churchill’s minister of information in 1940 & later, British ambassador to France, 1944-48);
Hans Thilo Schmidt (German civilian; traitor); a “General Schmidt” (brother of Hans); General Rudolf Schmidt (name found in the index & yet, not mentioned on the page provided; possibly but not necessarily the same person as “General Schmidt”);
“Rex” (French émigré from Germany, aka, “Stallman,” first name unknown & “Rodolphe Lemoine”; French spymaster “handler” of H.T. Schmidt); Paris-Soir (Parisian newspaper); & Belleville, a residential section of Paris.
D) The book’s wonderful map of Paris - executed perfectly with symmetry & grace - lacks a compass. This is necessary for readers to instantly see what the main routes were for the thousands of war refugees fleeing Belgium & Northern France flowing into & out of the French capital in 1940.
Other features of a book that should have NEVER been published:
E) Amateurish expositions; bad writing; cheap shots; factually dubious, contradictory or incorrect assertions; & illogical chronology:
- Cheap Shots: In the tragic context of a national (& international) catastrophe, was it necessary for Lottman to cattily remark that French PM Paul Reynaud looked like “Mickey Mouse”? (p. 10);
- Factually Dubious: King “Leopold’s [Belgium’s] surrender had been an act unprecedented in history” (p. 134; overlaps into “Wrong Words,” see "L," below), with “unprecedented” being employed to describe circumstances that common sense tells us were merely quite unusual);
- Factually Incorrect: “In the end, all of the [British, French, & Belgian] troops [initially stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk] got out of the trap [by naval evacuation]. Not a single soldier remained at Dunkirk to fall into German hands” (p. 170).
PN (03/21/12 Mercury/Mars Rx): From Quentin Reynolds "The Wounded Don't Cry" (1941) - "A lot of us think that England won the war at Dunkirk. She lost about 35,000 men. She should have lost 350,000 men" (p. 105). Unable to get on the boats (for whatever reason), some of those 35,000 soldiers must have been trapped at Dunkirk & taken prisoner.
F) “Gibberish”: “On February 26, after dark, enemy reconnaissance plans flew over the Paris region… that [same] night there were sirens – but no planes” (p. 6).
The German planes were UFOs. They might still be up there.
G) “Fop Speak”:
- Lottman’s constant narrative interruptions, “of course,” indeed,” “certainly” --- used after the point has already been made/is obvious.
H) Inane remarks; inept, confusing, ridiculous analogies & comparisons; incorrect or tortured verb tenses (with one dual qualifier, see "J, Not English”); incompetent usage of the word “but” (seriously!); & missing reflexive pronouns & run-on or incomplete sentences.
My favorite was “... surrounded on three sides” (p. 252).
I) The Quit While You're Ahead" rule, ignored:
“YOU ARE BITTER, DEFEATED… YOU SEE EVERYTHING IN BLACK! The remedy was Carter’s Little Liver Pills” (p. 186) – read a stock newspaper advertisement, with text left unchanged after May 10, 1940 & with Paris by June 4th reeling from the impending German attack on the French capital.
Untoppable. Stop. Not Lottman, who blathered on with an incomprehensible comment about another advertisement appearing on the same day.
J) “Not English” (with one dual qualifier, see "H, Incorrect or tortured verb tenses”); serial comma typing & other punctuation errors:
“The three officers held their pistols in outstretched arms, ready to expend their twenty-four bullets, but targets lacked” (p. 335. S/be, “but enemy soldiers did not appear.”).
K) Verbosity: Many margin notes to that effect; overall, it's obvious that the editor of "The Fall" had rounded up the usual perfunctory motions.
L) Unclear references, clumsy introductions & the inept introduction of full, formal names; words/phrases misplaced in sentences; & “Wrong Words.”
“Wrong Words”: Bonus, comically employed!
“An editorialist in the same [French newspaper,] ‘Le Figaro’… was aware of the frightful exodus [of civilian refugees & soldiers from defeated French divisions] from the north, resulting in traffic bottlenecks prejudicial to the military” (p. 123).
"Prejudicial" traffic jams. That's a hot one.
*****
The anecdote for “The Fall of Paris - June 1940”?
When you're done with Elliot Paul's "The Last Time I Saw Paris," next, read “Is Paris Burning?,” a superb history of the retaking of the city by Allied military forces in August 1944 (Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre, co-authors, Simon & Schuster, 1965).
Post Note: The previous version of this review (amended on February 15, 2016) stated that Lottman had been a history professor at Harvard. This statement was incorrect & has been withdrawn, with my apology extended to those who may have read it & hence were misled.
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