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Title: Solid, Readable History
Review: Shirer's solid narration on the troubled history of the French Third Republic (1870-1940) explains how decades of monarchism, anti-semitism, and bitter divisions weakened France and contributed to the 1940 collapse. When Shirer covers the 1940 debacle in the later chapters, it seems almost pre-destined. I liked the author's strong attention to the 1930's, when weak French governments failed to confront a re-arming Nazi Germany. William L. Shirer (1904-93) was a U.S. journalist in Europe from 1925-40 who later spent years researching the rather baffling subject of the decline of France. This volume doesn't quite match his "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," but Shirer's immense talents are evident, and Charles De Gaulle complimented his objectivity.
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