In his new book, The Liberation of Paris, Smith presents a more modulated relationship of mutual if often grudging esteem and uneasy collaboration toward common objectives [between Charles de Gaulle and Dwight D. Eisenhower]. Those two familiar characters, both future chiefs of state, naturally loom large in Smith’s brisk new recounting of those late-summer days ... Smith reveals how much discretionary power de Gaulle and Eisenhower (and their lieutenants) exercised in the field, making momentous decisions that their political masters had little choice but to accept ... The Liberation of Paris is a slender book: terse, authoritative, unsentimental.
Biographer and historian Jean Edward Smith...tells the fascinating story of Paris’ liberation and credits three soldiers—French General de Gaulle, American General Dwight Eisenhower, and German General Dietrich von Choltitz—with saving the ‘city of light' ... Smith details the movement of French troops into Paris, their interaction with Resistance forces, and the small-scale fighting that resulted in relatively small numbers of casualties.
... authoritative and beautifully written ... This expertly crafted narrative is a gem, a model of how important and complex events can be conveyed for enlightenment to a general audience.
Smith, a WWII expert, examines the fascinating circumstances surrounding the liberation of Paris, which took place with no destruction to the city ... A fascinating chapter in the larger of story of the Allied victory in Europe.
Based on a close reading of memoirs by many of the key figures profiled, Smith dramatically presents a historical biography of a defining moment in time ... A fitting celebration and remembrance marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of France and Paris. Recommended for readers of military history.
... tightly focused ... Eminent historian Smith has such a breadth of knowledge of this era in history that he is able to offer a distillation of swift-moving events surrounding the 1944 liberation of Paris in a marvelously readable fashion. Right from the beginning, the author smoothly sets the stage ... A succinctly instructive historical narrative by a top-notch historian and author.
Smith dishes up an outstanding concise history of one of the most dramatic moments of WWII ... gives a fresh take on the relationship between Eisenhower and De Gaulle ... Smith is an outstanding historian and tells a dramatic story well. This is a solid contribution to the history of WWII that both the general reader and the expert will find enjoyable and informative.
