The Resistance: The French Fight Against the Nazis

Description

The French resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II was a struggle in which ordinary people fought for their liberty, despite terrible odds and horrifying repression. Hundreds of thousands of Frenchmen and women carried out an armed struggle against the Nazis, producing underground anti-fascist publications and supplying the Allies with vital intelligence. The Resistancetouches on some of the strongest themes in life - courage, self-sacrifice, betrayal and struggle. It shatters the illusion of a unified Resistance created by General de Gaulle, and brings to vivid life a true story of heroes and conflicts forgotten over the next half-century as the movement became a myth. Based on hundreds of French eye-witness accounts and including recently-released archival material, The Resistanceuses dramatic personal stories to take the reader on one of the great adventures of the 20thcentury.

MATTHEW COBB is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester. He has translated five books from French into English, and spent most of his adult life as a researcher in Paris, before returning to the UK in 2002.

"A fine piece of work . . . paying tribute to men and women who did extraordinary things in the face of one of the most hideous tyrannies in history." " --Sunday Times" "Cobb comes perhaps closer than any other historian to explaining why the Resistance matters."" --Spectator" "Fabulous . . . painstakingly researched, even-handed and dripping with poignancy. . . . A good book about the French Resistance has long been overdue. It has now arrived." "--Glasgow Herald"