my summer reading list

I'm currently in the middle of three France-themed history books, all of which I recommend to anyone traveling to France.

The Longest Day, by Cornelius Ryan. The cover calls it "the classic epic of D-Day," and I believe it. It's chock-full of poignant details like the text of the news release Eisenhower had prepared in advance to send if the invasion failed, and the story of a British officer who read the "Once more into the breach, dear friends" speech from Henry V to his troops right before they landed on the beaches of Normandy. Very good.

The Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne. A good history of how Paris ended up looking as beautiful as it does, excellent if you want to deepen your appreciation of landmarks like Pont Neuf, the Louvre, and Saint Chapelle. Also very good if you, like me, are confused by the endless monarchy-republic-monarchy-dictatorship-commune-republic switcheroos of the 19th century. As a bonus, Horne includes lots of entertaining anecdotes, such as stories of monks beaning each other with candelabra.

Instructions for British Servicemen in France, 1944, distributed by the Foreign Office. Lots of funny quotes, like a DON'T list that starts with the item "Don't criticize the French Army's defeat of 1940. Many Frenchmen are convinced that they had a fine but insufficiently equipped army, not very well led." I bought it for the humor value, but found it to be a very sensible and compassionate little book. It's a useful 10,000 foot overview of French culture and history for travelers, AND good advice for a liberating army, complete with warnings about why you should not expect a warm welcome from everyone even when you're convinced you've just done the whole country a huge favor by freeing them from a dictatorial regime. Can't imagine why that struck a chord with me.