The Fall of Paris: June 1940 [Hardcover]

Herbert R. Lottman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

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.

Editorial Reviews

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 430 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060165200
• ISBN-13: 978-0060165208
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,641,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete and Well Written History of Paris, May-June 1940, December 11, 2001

By 

John P. Rooney "John" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fall of Paris: June 1940 (Hardcover)

"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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Enlightening, June 23, 2009

By 

R. Ashley (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fall of Paris: June 1940 (Hardcover)

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!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Quite Possibly The Worst History - of Anything - Ever Written, October 14, 2011

By 

Don Reed "Don" (Cliffside Park NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fall of Paris: June 1940 (Hardcover)

The Fall of Paris, June 1940, Herbert Lottman; HarperCollinsPublishers (401 pages; hardcover, 1992)

"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 just going to quote the above as the reasons why - Lottman having failed on all counts save his extensive research - two stars would be a more than generous appraisal. End of review.

Then... as the various margin notes were assembled, came the gradual, staggering realization that I had just finished reading one of the worst history books ever written.

The writing: Tiresome, inert, paceless, tedious & verbose. We're all familiar with the mysterious process whereby after about the first 100 pages, an author finds his "voice" & the book finally becomes worth reading. With this in mind, on or about page 254 of The Fall of Paris is where I suggest you begin.

Despite this purportedly being a serious academic work, footnotes were not used.

Worse, the "Sources" at the end of the book:

A) Do not provide The Fall's respective page numbers that should correspond to the pages of the published books listed as sources.

B) If you want to check a source, you possibly may have to read the entire book that is listed as a source.

The page numbers of the histories & memoirs used in the preparation & writing of The Fall are also not provided (what is listed: The names of the authors, book titles, where published, publishers, & years of publication. Hypothetical example: "André Lemoine, Adieu, Paris: Gallimard, 1972").

(How to competently/conscientiously footnote: See Gordon Brooke-Shepard's "November 1918," Little, Brown and Company, 1981, in which footnotes read, for example: "p. 117. l. [line] 4. Balkan battle strengths in 1915. Luigi Villari, "The Macedonian Campaign, p. 23.")

C) There is no separate, alphabetically-arranged 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.

D) "Index" Issues (related to & overlapping with "Unclear references, clumsy introductions," etc., see below) arose with the following individuals & 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); & a residential section of Paris, Belleville.

E) The book's wonderful map of Paris - executed perfectly with clarity, symmetry & grace - lacks a compass, with which the reader could instantly comprehend the main routes of the tens of thousands of war refugees fleeing Belgium & Northern France who were flowing into & out of the French capital in 1940.

Other features of a book that HCP should be forever ashamed of having published (some representative examples are provided):

F) Amateurish expositions; bad writing; cheap shots; factually dubious, contradictory or incorrect assertions, & illogical chronology;

- Cheap Shots: In the tragic context of an overwhelming national (& international) catastrophe, was it really necessary for Lottman to cattily remark that French PM Paul Reynaud looked like "Mickey Mouse"? (p. 10);

- Factually Dubious: "Leopold's [Belgium's] surrender had been an act unprecedented in history" (p. 134; this overlaps into "Wrong Words" - see below - with "unprecedented" being ignorantly employed to describe circumstances that were probably "very 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).

G) Is for "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 only way you can resolve this is that the planes were actually UFOs, which means that they were there - but couldn't exist.

H) Is for historical "Fop Speak":

- Lottman's pretentious narrative interruptions "of course," indeed," "certainly"; &, above all - usually surfacing when the point he is laboring to make is already perfectly obvious - the gratuitous & irritating "indeed" (all of this possibly taking a cue from the preposterously quasi-italicized corporate title of the book's publisher, "HarperCollinsPublishers");

I) Is for inane remarks; inept, confusing, or ridiculous analogies & comparisons; incorrect or tortured verb tenses (with one dual qualifier, see "Not English"); the incompetent use of the word "but" (seriously!); & missing reflexive pronouns & run-on or incomplete sentences (not intentionally written as such for "stylistic effect");

- "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. END the paragraph right there. You've made your point, brilliantly." Not Lottman, who couldn't resist adding an inane & incomprehensible comment about another advertisement that had appeared on the same day.

- Also up for an Inanity Award is the phrase, "surrounded on three sides" (p. 252). Gee, what could be wrong with that description?

J) "Not English" (with one dual qualifier, see "incorrect or tortured verb tenses"); serial comma typing & other punctuation errors;

- "N.E." is shorthand for "not written in English" (p. 335):

- "The three officers held their pistols in outstretched arms, ready to expend their twenty-four bullets, but targets lacked" (s/be, "but enemy soldiers did not appear").

K) Verbosity: Dozens of examples noted & possibly dozens more exist, the combined effect of which tells us that the editing of The Fall was -at the very least - performed in a perfunctory & unprofessional manner;

L) Unclear references, clumsy introductions & the inept introduction of full, formal names; words/phrases misplaced in sentences; & "Wrong Words."

- "Wrong Words." Has anyone else ever seen the word "prejudicial" so incompetently (& comically) employed? (p. 123):

- "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."

*****

I shudder to think that Herbert Lottman - in 1992 (& possibly still today) a history professor at, of all places, Harvard University - actually had anything to do with the appraisal & grading of the writing of the students enrolled in his classes.

*****

The anecdote for "The Fall of Paris - June 1940"?

It is - conveniently enough but not ironically - "Is Paris Burning?," the superb history of the retaking of the city by the Allied military forces in August 1944 (written by Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre; Simon & Schuster, 1965).

And reading IBP will pay an auxiliary dividend - the rude but necessary reminder of how the general standards of American publishers were adulterated in the decades following the publication of "Is Paris Burning?"