A superbly written account of France during WWII, especially Vichy. Since reading A Woman of No Importance, I discovered that my studies of and U.S. textbooks about Vichy, France, are quite distorted. After reading this I can categorically say that Vichy, France, was by no means a "free zone", and in fact, perhaps more dangerous than Paris. Well worth the 608 pages ( )

This book is a magnificent study of the grimmest period in France's history. Yet as Julian Jackson demonstrates, the origins of France's "dark years" lay not with Germany's defeat of France in 1940, but with the divisive and polarizing politics of the 1930s, during which many of the trends that played out during the Vichy years were established. Many conservative politicians saw France's humiliation as a product of social and political trends fostered by the Third Republic. Under Marshal Petain the Vichy regime sought to forge a stronger nation, only to be frustrated by the demands of the German war economy and the threat to French sovereignty it posed. The Resistance would eventually serve as a more enduring ideal for France, yet Jackson shows just how complicated its legacy became, with Charles de Gaulle seeking to assert a degree of control so as to cement his own claims to post-Liberation rule. Jackson draws upon decades of memoirs and historical research to recount this, providing what is likely to be the best English-language account of France's years of division, occupation, and humiliation for decades to come. ( )