Customer Reviews

Swiss Army La Place

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This is the first book I've read by Mr. McPhee, and I really enjoyed it. The author started out as a journalist and a lot of his pieces originally appeared in "The New Yorker." This background is apparent in the way he writes. He picks an unusual topic, or at least he looks at something from an unusual angle, and he is very economic with his words. This is not a criticism. You don't feel that you are being "shortchanged." Being linquistically economic allows Mr. McPhee to cram an awful lot of interesting information into a short book, in this case just 150 pages. We learn a lot about the workings of the Swiss Army and how it permeates the entire society. We get insight into the Swiss mentality and their philosophy of "neutrality." We also get a little history.....both concerning WWII and going back further, back to the days of the Swiss mercenaries. The famous Swiss precision even comes into play in the construction of bomb shelters: "....the Swiss started building one-bar (i.e.-being able to withstand a certain amount of pressure caused by an explosion) shelters to protect the extremely high percentage of the population that might survive explosions but without the shelter would be destroyed like the citizens of Hamburg and Dresden. Swiss calculations showed that something as thick as, say, a ten-bar shelter would be of negligible extra value, for the increased area of protection would be slight rather than proportional; for underground hospitals and command posts, three-bar construction was chosen." And even though Mr. McPhee is never wasteful with words, this doesn't stop him from occasionally inserting his dry sense of humor. Regarding the Swiss propensity for planning for all contingencies, and not being caught with their pants down, the author writes: "It would be very un-Swiss to wake up tomorrow to yesterday's threat and then attempt to do something about it. If Pearl Harbor had somehow been in Switzerland, a great deal of Japanese aluminum would be scattered all over the Alps." Now that I've dipped my toe in the water, I'm looking forward to reading a lot more by Mr. McPhee!

In German, La Place de la Concorde Suisse is rendered Concordiaplatz, and it is visible from the Jungfraujoch, which means "virgin saddle," and which is reached via funicular railway from Interlaken. Depending upon the season, one can either hike or ski from the Jungfraujoch down the Aletsch glacier to Concordiaplatz and view the redoubt containing the sunken armory described in McPhee's book. There may even be a visible contingent of soldiers guarding and maintaining it, just as their brethren maintain the explosives stashed in the outerworks of all key bridges in the country, or inspect the radar installations on key peaks such as the Weissflühgipfel above Davos. As one who lived and worked in Switzerland for eight years, and whose published memoir, Living Among The Swiss, is listed on this website, I can attest to the accuracy of McPhee's account. Most of my business colleagues were required to take annual two- or three-week military leaves, and one sees soldiers everywhere: on trains, in ski resorts, along low and vulnerable mountain passes such as those north of Sargans, and, increasingly, at airports. Their efficiency of organization has been admired not only by the Israelis, who imitated it, but also by the Russian defense minister, and McPhee accurately captures their esprit de corps - in the process expanding, as usual, the reader's vocabulary.

When I first read this book (and for a long time thereafter), I had no idea who John McPhee was. Although I enjoyed his idiosyncratic and engaging style, it was the subject matter of this brief study that interested me most. I've read a couple of McPhee's other books since, and enjoyed those, too. But this one is my favorite, because it's still the subject, rather than the author, that intrigues me most.

It's been said that Switzerland is not a country with an army, but rather an army with a country. McPhee shows us how the militia-army concept -- the every-citizen-as-soldier idea that has been emulated by Israel, for example -- plays out in the lives of Swiss citizens like Luc Massy, McPhee's host on a series of military training exercises. The exercises are more like camping trips for the soldiers, but McPhee shows that behind the breezy attitudes, national defense is a deadly serious business for the Swiss nation and people.

Switzerland's pastoral countryside may never look quite the same again, once you realize that nearly every bridge has been fitted with explosives, the faster to destroy them in case of invasion. That any snow-capped peak may hide artillery emplacements or entire squadrons of fighter jets. That a silent glacier (like the title Place de la Concorde Suisse) may become a front-line airfield at the first sign of trouble. And that, of course, most every farmhouse contains firearms and men and women trained to use them.

Since this book was first published in 1983, there has been a spate of books about the Swiss in World War Two. Coming as it did before that storm, 'La Place de la Concorde Suisse' is a useful way to get a feeling for the Swiss militia system, uncolored (pro or con) by the strong feelings that arose a decade or so later. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a look at Switzerland's unique national defense system in practice.

While most folks assume being neutral means being peaceful, McPhee does a great job of showing how neutrality requires great vigilance and dedication. He also shows how while there are some Swiss who view military service as a holiday or an inconvenience, they understand (to some extent) the purpose of what they've been forced to do.

I perhaps would have liked more specifics, but the Swiss seem pretty tight-lipped in that department, so I can't hold it against the book. One drawback I did find was that statements in French or German weren't translated. My French is too rudimentary for what McPhee left in the original.

The latest reprint of John McPhee's 1983 La Place de la Concorde Suisse is a perfect complement to Stephen P. Halbrook's TARGET SWITZERLAND: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II. As a Swiss-American, in 1951 I saw the WW II defensive preparations: valley to valley anti-tank barriers; rail iron roadblocks that could be set up in minutes; gun emplacements covering roads and passes, and a Reservist army of every male still on maneuvers. Today most men have an automatic weapon or pistol and sealed packet of cartridges at home. Yet a national mentalite' - a word that may be translated as an accute sense of the responsibility inherent in possessing a gun - precludes the use of these weapons in criminal acts. They're registered, just as automobiles are, and private gun ownership is strictly regulated by cantonal laws. None protest that their to right to own guns is infringed! McPhee follows a reconnaisance patrol of French-speaking reservists as they cull information in the mountains: how many men can fit in a cable car? Are explosive charges in place under a bridge? How long would a relief force take to reach a certain village? (89 minutes.) The leader of this somewhat laid-back unit is a vintner in civil life - when pondering a problem he uncorks a bottle of his own wine and shares it with his men. He has no ambitions toward promotion, although many Swiss corporations see a correlation between the prestige of army rank and their executives' jobs. Swiss preparedness and determination deterred invasion in WW II by implementing the dictum, "Switzerland doesn't have an army, Switzerland is an army." Today, not everyone agrees, but the national attitude may summed up in a bumper sticker: "Everyone talks about wanting peace. Our army assures it." Albert Noyer; author The Saint's Day Deaths.

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With the volunteer military facing staffing problems, and with the first tentative trial balloons about restoring the draft being lofted, this book offers insight into a fascinating alternative. The Swiss system is superior to a lottery-based conscript army because it encompasses everyone, not just the unlucky and the young. That not only makes it fairer, but provides protection for democratic values against the standing professional army that the Framers feared. Read this book together with Gary Hart's excellent book "The Minuteman: Restoring an Army of the People" (Free Press 1998), which argues for a Swiss-style approach in America.

Long before the phenomenal success of books like "Longitude" and "Cod", John McPhee perfected the art of the 'single topic in depth' book, in many cases expanding on his trademark (long) New Yorker essays. In "La Place de la Concorde Suisse", he digs below the picture-postcard prettiness and deceptive blandness of Switzerland and its people to deliver a fascinating (and slightly sinister) portrait of the Swiss Army.

One of his most interesting books, written before he gave himself over to the fascination with geology that has inspired many of his more recent efforts.

To say that McPhee writes well is a gross understatement. He is the literary father of Malcolm Gladwell, with the same characteristic ability to take an apparently abstruse topic and write about it with extraordinary lucidity, weaving a fascinating story that draws the reader in and holds the attention right to the end.

If you haven't read any of McPhee's work, this would a good book to start with. Other favorites of mine include "The Crofter and the Laird", "The Headmaster", or either of the collections "Giving Good Weight" and "The John McPhee Reader"

Reading a McPhee book that is. It was loaned to me by someone since he knows my wife is Swiss. LPDLCS was a great book of his to start with and I think is the quintessential McPhee book. His subject matter has always puzzled me. He goes to Iceland to document their fight against the lava flows, to Greece to learn more about Ophiolite sequences, and to the Alaskan bush to see how the last great "Pioneers" live. Of course in LPDLCS he travels with member of the French-Swiss military on their yearly excursions, but you learn so much more about things you never thought could be interesting. His books are as eccentric as they are fascinating. I have not yet read a bad book from this guy.

La Place De La Concorde Suisse is where several glaciers meet in the Swiss Alps. What a bizzare, but appropriate, title. Read this book.

My first adventure in Europe was founded in a two month stay in Vevey Switzerland with many day and weekend trips around the area and further. A few years later I ran across this book in a bookstore. I read it twice and loaned it to friends. It is very interesting, even if you don't have a particular facination with Switzerland. The research and the explanation of Swiss history, sociology, geography, and worldview are enlightening. Even though I have Swiss friends and have spent considerable time there ( I have returned several times since my first trip), there were still "aha!" moments while reading this book. I recommend it for anyone that wants a better understanding of where the Swiss fit into Europe, and especially for those that have traveled, or are planning to travel, to the area.

First published in the early 1980's during the Cold War, this book is still in print. Because its title is in French it has never been a bestseller, but people continue to buy it. Why?

Perhaps the book's popularity is maintained by word of mouth, year in year out, by readers having served in Zurich or Geneva with a bank, an international organisation or NGO based there. Again why?

Perhaps to warn their friends that Switzerland is not a normal country: As John Mc Phee writes, most countries have an army, but only the Swiss army has a country. The Swiss army is described as a totally vigilant entity, despite peace during the past 500 years. Strategic bridges and passes are mined, high mountains hide untold military resources. Army recruits are thoroughly trained, then sent home with their rifle and ammunition, and recalled for 2-3 week every year for quite serious exercises (well described by the author) until well into their forties.

A review should not reveal the best parts of a book. So read about the effects of WW2 firestorms in Germany on Swiss building codes, how foreign military attachés were shocked by the Swiss air force during an exercise, how a lowly employee can command his boss during annual military exercises, as reservists.

This is a wonderful little book based on talking with real Swiss. Mc Phee takes part in one such annual military exercise and his principal (but not only) resource person is a Swiss vintner. No book references, just people talking.