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Paris '44

The Shame and the Glory

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the Sunday Times-bestselling author, comes a heart-stopping countdown narrative recreating the liberation of Paris in 1944, one of the great and most dramatic hinge moments of WW2

When the Germans marched in and the lamps went out in the City of Light the millions who loved Paris mourned. Liberation, four years later, triggered an explosion of joy and relief. It was the party of the century and everybody who was anybody was there. General Charles de Gaulle seized the moment to create an instant legend that would take its place alongside the great moments in French history. After years of oppression and humiliation Parisians had risen to reclaim their city and drive out the forces of darkness – or so the story went.

This fresh new account of the liberation, packed with revelation, tells the story of those heady days of suspense, danger, exhilaration – and vengeance – through the eyes of a range of participants, reflecting all sides of the conflict: Americans, French and Germans; resisters and collaborators. Among them are famous names like Ernest Hemingway, J.D. Salinger and Pablo Picasso, but also some fascinating unknowns including a medic turned Resistance gunwoman, an androgynous Hungarian sculptor and a French bluestocking who quietly set about saving the nation’s art treasures from the Nazi looters.

Paris ’44 looks behind the mythology to tell the real story of the liberation and expose the conflicts and contradictions of France under the occupation – the shame as well as the glory. This gripping war-time narrative will enthral anyone who has a place for Paris in their hearts.


©2024 Patrick Bishop (P)2024 Penguin Audio

 20th Century Europe France Military Modern War Imperialism

Critic reviews

An evocative account of the city’s liberation . . . Bishop is such a skilful writer, with a sense of nuance and an eye for memorable anecdotes, that even readers familiar with the story will enjoy his book enormously . . . history, like life, is complicated, and Bishop’s admirable book treats it with the respect and care it deserves (Dominic Sandbrook, host of The Rest Is History)
Bishop pulls no punches in emphasizing that the story of Paris’s liberation from the Germans by its brave citizens was a myth, invented for political purposes by Gen.Charles de Gaulle . . . This is a thrilling account of a notable episode of the last phase of World War II, told with authority as well as a wealth of unpublished anecdotes. (Max Hastings)
Paris ’44 tells the story of the occupation and the liberation, but it does not read like military history . . . The book resembles some epic thriller, with vividly evoked characters all somewhere on the spectrum between collaboration and resistance, shame and glory . . . Paris ’44 is a wonderful book: droll, moving, with a cinematic eye and not a boring line in it (Andrew Martin)
Patrick Bishop follows a tradition of British and American historians interrogating aspects of wartime history that the French themselves prefer to avoid. His beady-eyed Paris '44 takes a panoramic view of crumbling Nazi administration, approaching armies, foreign correspondents, Resistance fighters, opportunist Gaullists and various collaborators, sharply depicting the faultlines of rivalry among the liberators (Roy Foster)
How close Paris came to being laid waste – and many of its citizens being massacred in an almighty bloodbath – is vividly and thrillingly recounted by British war historian and Paris resident Patrick Bishop. We re-live the tension of those terror-filled days (Tony Rennell)
Fascinating . . . gripping . . . Bishop tells the story of the liberation by reporting, as if he were there, how a rich cast of characters lived through its key moments (Nicholas Farrell)
Gives a vivid impression of what it might have been like to be there on that wonderful day . . . for those who prefer their history to be romantic, this book is the one. It's all here . . . in full Technicolor, told at a blistering pace
Excellent . . . a fresh, unexpected take on the liberation of Paris (Julian Jackson, author of France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain)
Bishop writes with admirable brevity and insight
An extraordinary moment of history brought to vivid, pulsing life. Rich with suspense and layered with intrigue (Sinclair McKay, author of Berlin)
All stars
Most relevant
Did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Really has a great flow through the years of history

Loved it

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A fascinating start pays homage to the French capital, its cultural significance and its place in the hearts of romantics everywhere. It's then a bit slow as the characters are introduced but it soon gathers pace again and from there on it is gripping. The liberation of Paris is a part of WWII that I had not heard much about previously, beyond the obvious. This book gives you everything you need to know. The German garrison, good and bad. Hitler. Nazi looting. The collaborators and the resisters, often the same person, or people. The French police fall into that category. The humiliations and privations of occupation. French politicians. Vichy. The British, the Americans. The author explains the bigger picture where all of them are concerned and tells the stories of many ordinary people, and groups, who together restored some pride to the people of Paris by speeding up the liberation of their city.

Very Informative and Very Well Told

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Meticulously researched history of a rich, diverse but complicated City under the Nazis. The story of occupation writ large but lived everywhere across occupied Europe. The Parisians were subjugated and shamed but waited, quarrelled, committed sabotage, collaborated and eventually stood together to fight the oppression. A story that, in Paris, might never end!

Excellent narration of a stunning book

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The book provides a full description of the effects of Nazi occupation of France from the beginnings to the sometime confused and painful liberation by all of the parties struggling for freedom. What I found fascinating was the cultural history of artists, writers, and intellectuals throughout the occupation.

impressive Portrait of Occupation and Librration

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Born in Paris in 1935 , the author is filling gaps of history for me. So many names i know and much of the story is known to me. I am enjoying the book very much BUT I do wish the reader, who is doing fairly well with his own interpretation of French words, could do a better job with names ending with a 'C'. General Leclerc is pronounced as Lecler ..... no 'c' should ever be heard as a 'q' as he does. When are the British going to remember that the word 'blanc' is pronounced 'blan' and not 'blank'; It is a real turn off.
We were evacuated during the war but the first place I was made to visit on my return to Puteaux, my home, was to visit The Mont Valerien ???/ Horrendous but never to be forgotten,

I am enjoying the book but do feel that the world I entered in 1935 seems to be in a delicate state now ,,, going I know not where once again as I am about to leave it. Not comfortable at all as I think of my children and grandchildren .... Fascism is not far away once more as new Hitlers head many a country ......

British Parisienne

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