Neiberg's book about the final days of German-occupied Paris is in some ways a retelling of the story by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre four decades ago in Is Paris Burning? But Neiberg adds a depth that the earlier work deliberately omitted. Collins and Lapierre opted for a journalistic, moment-by-moment account of events, whereas Neiberg offers a more panoramic view of events, placing them in the context of the relations among the respective Allies, which had different tactical and strategic aims during the campaign in France. Neiberg also focuses on the rivalries and competing postwar visions of the varying French Resistance factions and the Free French military and political leadership. Neiberg clearly does not intend to supersede or replace the earlier book, which he draws upon often, but his work makes an excellent companion to Is Paris Burning? -VERDICT This book is as engrossing and fast paced as its predecessor, and, while targeted to the nonacademic reader interested in World War II, it could easily find a place among academic titles.-RF (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

By June 1944, after four years under German occupation, most Parisians had settled into a state of sullen accommodation. The Allied invasion of Normandy dramatically altered their lives. Cut off from the food supplies from Normandy, many Parisians faced starvation. Emboldened by German retreats, the various resistance groups came out in the open, unleashing an orgy of street violence against both Germans and suspected collaborators. At the highest levels of Allied military command, a debate raged over the wisdom of diverting forces for a drive on Paris, since some questioned the strategic importance of the city. Neiberg is a professor of history at the U.S. Army War College. In his engrossing and stirring narrative, he reveals how the city was liberated through a combination of heroism, ignoble acts, and the machinations of politicians, resistance fighters, and even hardheaded diplomats. Although Neiberg doesn't avoid the more unsavory aspects of the saga, his descriptions of the courageous acts of ordinary Parisians roused from their slumber make for one of the most remarkable and inspiring episodes of the war.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2010 Booklist

After the June 1944 Normandy landings, Allied armies intended to avoid Paris, and Germany didn't consider it strategically important, but the city obsessed every Frenchman. In this vivid account, Neiberg, professor of history at the U.S. Army War College (Dance of the Furies: Europe and the Outbreak of World War I), points out that, by July, Parisians were starving. Malnourishment during four years of Nazi occupation worsened as Allied bombing plus German diversion to supply its forces reduced food imports to famine levels. This plus a yearning to strike the hated Germans inflamed the city's resistance. Parisians rose up on August 19, and Neiberg skillfully describes six days of disorganized but bloody urban warfare between poorly armed Frenchmen and mostly unenthusiastic Germans until a French regiment, in defiance of Allied orders, entered the city. While hardly a great victory and followed by a nasty vengeance against collaborators, Paris's liberation produced ecstatic delight throughout the West, making it one of the few feel-good stories of the war, and Neiberg, with a close-up and evocative narrative, delivers a thoroughly satisfying history. 23 b&w photos, 1 map. Agent: Geri Thoma, Markson Thoma. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.