Readers hungry for the convoluted details about how occupied Paris was liberated, and who deserves the most credit for doing so, will relish this book. While General de Gaulle started planning it in 1943, and General Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division merit superabundant veneration for their heroic military performance, the  factors that actually allowed the French takeover to happen are exhaustively particularized here.

Many perplexing questions, (like "why did the German General Choltitz disobey Hitler's command to destroy Paris?") are addressed in extenso, often by giving support with many quotations from published books and diaries. 

     SOME MAY THINK THE AUTHOR LETS TAITTINGER OFF LIGHTLY over HIS COLLABO PAST AND VENAL ACTIVITIES REGARDING THE ACQUISITION OFJEWISH PROPERTY, THOUGH THE AUTHOR DOES MENTION these BRIEFLY. NEVERTHELESS, THIS CAPTIVATING BOOK ENUMERATES MYRIADS OF FASCINATING ITEMS WHICH ANGLOPHONE READERS MAY NOT HAVE SEEN IN SUCH DETAIL BEFORE: E.G., ABOUT THE MURDERS OF HENRIOT AND MANDEL.

IN SUMMARY, for those eager to know more, to have a fuller, more COMPREHENSIVE picture than that given by Collins' and Lapierre's Is Paris Burning, "and to understand the emotions and motivations behind the liberation of the most important city in western Europe occupied by the Nazis," this book can be highly recommended.