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

Today's nonfiction post is on When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944 by Ronald C. Rosbottom. It is 480 pages long and is published by Little, Brown, and Company. The cover is a black and white photo of Paris at night during the occupation. The intended reader is someone who is interested in World War 2 history and the history of Paris. There is no foul language, no sex, and discussion of war violence. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- 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.

Review- An interesting and in depth review of a the most famous city in the world during occupation. Rosbottom does a wonderful job giving the reader an eye into Paris and the Parisians who lived there during the war. He discusses with first hand objects, newspapers, journals, etc., what life was like in Paris from  1940-1944. From those hiding from the Nazis to famous artists who were just trying to work and not be killed for their modern art. The writing was good, very easy to read, and to absorb what the city was like. The photos add to the text, from people to the buildings, they give a sense of time and place. I would recommend this book for a deeper look into the French Occupation during World War II. 

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.