Is Paris Burning?

Since I have to get back all 700+ posts Vin stole from me...*snarl*

This is a great book. I think it took a better part of five years to research it and the authors interviewed so many people and crafted the different stories into one so well, the book actually reads more like a novel than a documentary.

Not only does it profile the top brass (De Gaulle, Ike, Leclerc, etc) but also citizens of Paris who lived during the occuaption of Paris.

When the liberation forces marched into the Nazi HQ, the Frenchman in charge asked what a length of cloth was bunched up on the table. A German officer said that it was the flag of the division in command of Gross Paris. The Frenchman asked for it, then called his father. He had been very angry when his son signed up to fight with De Gaulle and told him he was making a bad choice.

"Papa," he said, "Despite your negative predictions of my military career, I have called to inform you that I have just captured a German general, his staff, and his flag."

[Barrett]

...to which Papa likely replied, "Well, it's high time you made something of yourself!" ("And what are you gonna do for an encore?")