For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

The Liberation of Paris: How Eisenhower, de Gaulle, and von Choltitz Saved the City of Light by Jean Edward Smith takes place during World War II and tells the title story in context of the war and politics. Mr. Smith is a prize winning historian.

Adolf Hitler, as one of the many villainous things he did over his life, was to order the commander of occupied Paris, Dietrich von Choltitz, to destroy the city at all costs. Von Choltitz loved Paris, but not so much the regime’s leadership, promptly ignored that order – most likely knowing that it could cost him his life.

This is one of the more fascinating stories that Jean Edward Smith tells in his book The Liberation of Paris: How Eisenhower, de Gaulle, and von Choltitz Saved the City of Light. The author mainly concentrated on De Gaulle’s request to liberate Paris, which the Allies were going to delay and simply go around.

Eisenhower, who realized that even though Paris was not strategically important, it was certainly an important political statement, decided that the liberation will take place. Much of the decision was to make sure that the communist resistance will not gain power in power vacuum which is most likely to happen.

Even though liberating the City of Light was a huge moral booster, it did delay the end of the war, giving the Nazis time to regroup. That being said, the emotional success in a war, is sometimes as important as a strategic success.

The main outcome of this book, for me, was the struggle to keep Paris from being destroyed. The politics and strategies that went into this thought Eisenhower and von Choltitz, both making sacrifices, do deserve to be told.

Even though the book is short, it is full of information told in a very readable manner. This is a compelling narrative for anyone interested in the era.

This was an interesting book about the liberation of Paris after WWII. This nonfiction book reads almost like fiction. I enjoyed it and learned a lot.

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

Although I usually read nonfiction slowly, The Liberation of Paris proved one of those books that caught my interest early and refused to let me quit reading until I was finished.

"Jean Edward Smith (born October 13, 1932) is a biographer and the John Marshall Professor of Political Science at Marshall University.[1] He is also professor emeritus at the University of Toronto after having served as professor of political economy there for thirty-five years. Smith is also on the faculty of the Master of American History and Government program at Ashland University.[2]
The winner of the 2008 Francis Parkman Prize and the 2002 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, Smith has been called "today’s foremost biographer of formidable figures in American history."[1][3] " (Wikipedia)

One of those rare historians who can make history come alive, Jean Edward Smith's account of the liberation of Paris is an engrossing narrative of the three men who worked together to save the city. All three had to circumvent difficult situations (and often their immediate superiors) to do what they thought best.

At De Gaulle's request, Eisenhower's decision to liberate Paris--which Allied Planners wanted delayed--was largely political, to avoid the communist resistance gaining power, while Von Choltitz, knowing the war was lost and not wanting the blame for destroying Paris, did his best to avoid Hitler's command to defend the city to the last man and leave the city in ruins.

The machinations of all three men to save the city required some devious thinking, especially on the part of Von Choltitz, who was ordered to destroy the seventy bridges of Paris and reduce the city rubble. The communications between De Gaulle and Eisenhower are especially interesting, as are the communications between Von Choltitz and his superiors.

The liberation of Paris was a morale booster, but it did delay the end of the war by giving the Germans the opportunity to regroup. Regardless of whether it was the best decision possible, liberating Paris was a momentous emotional success, and the story that led up to the liberation is fascinating.

If you are interested in WWII, I highly recommend this compelling account of the liberation of Paris.

Read in April; blog review scheduled for July 9, 2019.

NetGalley/Simon & Schuster
Nonfiction/WWII. July 23, 2019. Print length: 256 pages.