Marianne in Chains: In Search of the German Occupation, 1940-1945

Full of the telling anecdote, written at a fast pace, MARIANNE IN CHAINS is both readable and scholarly, provocative and convincing' Ruth Harris, author of Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular AgeA radical examination of France in the Occupation, Marianne in Chains focuses on the area around Tours in the Loire and in so doing, Robert Gildea provides us with a microcosmic view of everyday life during the Occupation. Traditionally, this story is told in one of two ways: first, the French are all seen as doughty resistance fighters constantly subverting German rule; second, the French are all dismissed as spineless traitors who gave in immediately and whose only interests were selfish ones. Gildea is searching for the middle path between these two extremist views. His book shows how the vast majority of the French people reached an accommodation with their German masters and looks in riveting detail at just how this was done. It is a major work of revisionist history and is certain to excite comment and debate.