Wine and War: the French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure by Don and Petie Kladstrup.- 2002 - 334 Pages

 

Wine and War: the French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure by Don and Petie Kladstrup.- 2002 - 334 Pages 

Very  soon after  France surrendered to the Nazis, in May of 1940, the Germans made it their goal to appropriate France's  wine.  Wine was a  important part of daily French life and the vast vineyards supported much of the population.  Top Nazis officials fancied themselves experts on wine.

 As the war went on the Germans soon required all wine to sold to Germans, served in restaurants only open to Germans.  Vineyard workers were conscripted to work in Germany.  Vital horses were taken.

Vineyard owners began to seek ways to hide their products. 

They hid their most prized wines immediately, knowing that the Germans would take them and, more importantly, not appreciate them. They built walls in their cellars, closing in the wines behind them, and had their children collect spiders so they'd spin webs to make the wall look older. Dust from old carpets were collected to put on cheap bottles to make them appear rare.

These are the true stories of vignerons who sheltered Jewish refugees in their cellars and of winemakers who risked their lives to aid the resistance. They made chemicals in secret laboratories to fuel the resistance and fled from the Gestapo when arrests became imminent.

There were treacheries too, as some of the nation's winemakers supported the Vichy regime, or the Germans themselves, and collaborated.

Don and Petie Kladstrup are former journalists who have written extensively about wine and France for numerous publications. Don, a winner of three Emmys and numerous other awards, was a foreign correspondent for ABC and CBS television news. Petie, an Overseas Press Club winner, was a newspaper journalist and more recently protocol officer for the U.S. ambassador to UNESCO. The Kladstrups divide their time between Paris and Normandy

Provence 1970 by Luke Barr- 2016 - 226 Pages

 I highly recommend pairing a reading of Province 1970 with a viewing of the movie Julia and Julia (currently available on Netflix). 

 This is the second nonfiction work by Luke Barr focusing on French food upon which I have posted. My first of his works was Ritz and Escoffier: The Hotelier, The Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class. (Both available at the Boston Library via Libby.)

"Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery. Without quite realizing it, they were shaping today’s tastes and culture, the way we eat now. The conversations among this group were chronicled by M.F.K. Fisher in journals and letters—some of which were later discovered by Luke Barr, her great-nephew. In Provence, 1970, he captures this seminal season, set against a stunning backdrop in cinematic scope—complete with gossip, drama, and contemporary relevance." From Penquin House Press

Provence 1970 includes detailed descriptions of meals and even a few recipes.

 

And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi Occupied Paris by Alan Riding - 2010 - 433 Pages - A Paris in July 2024 Work

 Paris in July 2024

Paris in July does not just include books. Contributions on your Paris vacation, your favourite meal or restaurant, French movies, music, art and more are very welcome.  

Works I have so far featured for Paris in July 2024

1. The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

2. A Waiter in Paris: Adventures in the Dark Heart of the City by Edward Chisholm -2022- 

3. And The Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi Occupied Paris by Alan Riding - 2010

And The Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi Occupied Paris by Alan Riding is a very comprehensive account of how all aspects of the arts and those involved in them were impacted by German domination of Paris during World War II.  Parisians had a wide range of responses.  Some were active supporters of fasicism, others figured Nazi domination was permanent and just thought it prudent to go along while others actively resisted, sacrificing their lives to oppose the Nazis,

"The book shows that there was no black and white when it came to resisting and collaborating. Riding is not unsympathetic to collabos. Instead, he traces how they came to be by painting an elaborate picture of the terror of the German invasion, the collapse of French morale following the first world war, the immense humiliation and fear of a defeated population. There are sections, too, on the rise of fascist writers like Pierre Drieu La Rochelle (who called for a pure-blooded France, free of Jews, liberals and gypsies) and the background of Charles Maurras, founder of the rightwing Action Française, which became especially virulent when the Jewish liberal Léon Blum became prime minister in 1936.

And what of the artists themselves, the ones who simply wanted to get on with their work, and not be bothered with politics? After the war Sartre said that writers and artists had a duty to tell their countrymen "not to be ruled by Germans". But there were still plenty who boarded trains to Munich and Berlin with bright smiles for solidarity tours of Germany. We all say we would never have done it. No one wanted to be a Maurice Chevalier or Sacha Guitry singing their hearts out or writing plays for Germans, but Riding points out that even these scorned men were not exactly collabos. They also helped Jewish friends while hanging out with the high-ranking Germans in charge of the cultural world. After all, Riding writes, the Germans had champagne and food and wonderful parties while many Parisians were living on onions and freezing from lack of coal.

Some artists, such as Édith Piaf, also went to Germany or consorted with Germans as a means to an end – to get French prisoners of wars freed in exchange for their presence on German soil. Others did so out of fear, or plain survival: most were sure that there would be a German victory and they wanted to ensure that they would be able to carry on their life's work.

And the Show Went On is a much larger history than its title suggests. It is about cultural life in Paris, but it is also a book about society and politics in the years leading up to the war. Riding takes on an immense topic and succeeds in demonstrating that even through war and sorrow and misery, art was created, books were written and, in the worse moments of destruction, there was also creation." From The Guardian 

I cannot imagine there being a better book on the topic than that of Alan Riding.

For 12 years, Alan Riding was the European cultural correspondent for the New York Times. He was previously bureau chief for the Times in Paris, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Mexico City. Riding is the author of And the Show Went On and Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans. He lives in Paris with his wife, Marlise Simons, a writer for the Times.

The Libraian Spy by Madeline Martin - 2022- 401 pages

 The Libraian Spy by Madeline Martin - 2022- 401 pages

In December of 2021 I read The Last Bookstore in London by Madeline Martin, set in London during the Blitz years of World War Two. I loved this deeply moving vivid account of the impact of Germany's bombing of London on a small Bookstore.

I was delighted when her just recently published novel, The Libraian Spy, was offered in a flash sale of the Kindle Edition for $1.95.

The Libraian Spy is set during World War Two in Paris as well as Lyon and Lisbon. Paris is occupied by the Germans. Portugal is neutral but in danger of being invaded. People come from all over Europe to Lisbon hoping to get a visa to go to America. 

Ava loved working as a librarian at The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C, she loved her job:

"There was nothing Ava Harper loved more than the smell of old books. The musty scent of aging paper and stale ink took one on a journey through candlelit rooms of manors set amid verdant hills or ancient castles with turrets that stretched up to the vast, unknown heavens. These were tomes once cradled in the spread palms of forefathers, pored over by scholars, devoured by students with a rapacious appetite for learning. In those fragrant, yellowed pages were stories of the past and eternal knowledge. It was a fortunate thing indeed she was offered a job in the Rare Book Room at the Library of Congress where the archaic aroma of history was forever present."

 Then one day Ava is asked to go to Lisbon to work attached to the American Embassy gathering information from publications that might help the Allied War effort. America had not yet entered the war but was helping. Ava was recruited for her expertise microfilming documents.

Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.

As the battle in Europe rages, Ava and Elaine find themselves connecting through coded messages and discovering hope in the process.

There are lots of exciting developments, I became very involved with Ava and Elaine. Elaine's husband was very against her getting involved with the resistance. Ava's brother is fighting in the American Army. Lisbon is full of desperate refugees from all over Europe. In Lyon Elaine gives her ID card to a Jewish woman to save her from the camps. The Gestapo takes Elaine into custody in a very frightening segment.

Food is very much a central issue. Foodies will be ready for a trip to Lisbon. Rationing is very strict in Lyon. If one German is killed by the resistance, they kill 100 French persons in retaliation.  

Both cities are very brilliantly depicted.  

The Libraian Spy is obviously very well researched. It kept me enthralled from the start.

"Madeline Martin is a New York Times and International Bestselling author of historical fiction and historical romance.

"She lives in sunny Florida with her two daughters (known collectively as the minions), one incredibly spoiled cat and a man so wonderful he’s been dubbed Mr. Awesome. She is a die-hard history lover who will happily lose herself in research any day. When she’s not writing, researching or ‘moming’, you can find her spending time with her family at Disney or sneaking a couple spoonfuls of Nutella while laughing over cat videos. She also loves to travel, attributing her fascination with history to having spent most of her childhood as an Army brat in Germany." From Madelinemartin.com

Mel Ulm

 

Mastering the Art of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year in Paris by Ann Mah. 2015 - 273 Pages

Mastering the Art  of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year  in Paris by Ann Mah. 2015 - 273 Pages 

A dream has come true for a very passionate foodie, Ann Mah and her American Diplomatic Corp husband Calvin, he has been given a three year assignment in Paris.  Sadly, soon after they arrive he is sent to Irag for a year. No families are allowed there.  Mah is initially crushed by her loneliness. She fears for Calvin’s safety.

Calvin encourages her to employ her passion for French  cooking by  travels through country.  She seeks out the Regional sprcialities of the regions she visits.  For each of The ten regions she provides a brief history, introduces local chefs.  She visits three Star Michelin restaurants and simple cafes known only to locals.  At the close of each chapter there is an elegant recipe of a famous French dish.  You Will leave this book hungry!

Mah shares her aclimation to living in Paris as an American of Chinese ancestory, slowly learning French and getting a job at The American Library.

She talks about Julia Child, another diplomatic wife in Love with Paris and French Food. Diplomats have no real fixed home.  

Mastering the Art  of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year  in Paris is s very good book.  To me it brought on deep feelings of regret.  I had planned to travel to Paris in 2022 with my wife. She passed away on January 19.

I have a copy of Mah’s debut novel Kitchen Chinese and hope to read it soon.

“Ann Mah is an American food and travel writer and the bestselling author of The Lost Vintage and three other books. A frequent contributor to the New York Times’ Travel section, she lives in Paris and Washington, DC.”  

https://www.annmah.net/

Mel Ulm

 

The Chanel Sisters by Judithe Little - 2020

 The Chanel Sisters by Judithe Little - 2020

In July of 2015  I read and was fascinated by Mademoiselle Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History by Rhonda Garelick.  For sure Coco Chanel (1883 to 1971)  is one of if not the most influential fashion designers of the 20th century. Worldwide her influence on fashion is tremendous.  When I started reading Garelick's superb biography I knew very little about Coco Chanel.    Upon reaching the end I felt I had been taken deeply into the psyche and life of an incredibly creative woman, a business genius who created from nothing a fashion and perfume empire worth billions of dollars, a woman who began life as an orphan and ended it atop the fashion universe.  I also saw a complex, deeply troubled and very much a flawed woman.  I admired her to a degree but found her often very selfish, insecure and I find her anti-Semiticism despicable.  I am convinced by the information in this book that Chanel did not just collaborate with the Nazis but tried to use the antiJewish laws they put in place to cheat the Jewish family that bought ninety percent of the rights to her famous perfume, Chanel # 5 from her.  

Coco (Gabrilla) Chanel is the most influential fashion designer of all times.  In the side bar of my blog there are four writers wearing Chanel inspired clothing.  She, as vividly 

potrayed in Judithe Little’s marvelous histotical fiction, rose from the depths of poverty to incredible wealth based on her talent, drive and creativity.  

I greatly enjoyed Reading The Chanel Sisters by Judithe Little.

The Three Chanel Sisters - abandoned by their father, their mother deceased were left in a Pensionnat, an orphange/ School run by Catholic  nuns.  

September 11, 1882: Julia-Berthe Chanel is born 

August 19, 1883: Gabrielle Chanel, later known as Coco, is born 

June 14, 1887: Antoinette Chanel is born

1902 (est.) Coco and Antoinette leave the Pensionnat and begin to work as seamstresses, for which they were trained.  From this humble start, with the help of a very wealthy man, Coco will build her huge  fortune.  She learned  the hard way to never rely totolly on anyone else.  Men will leave you, just as her father did her and her sisters, marry somone else or die. She liked her men tall, rich, thin and with a title. She never married.

There is a very useful timeline included at the close of The Chanel Sisters, from which the dates above are taken.

The story is told from the point of view of Antoinette Chanel.  Unlike Coco, not much is known about her  personal life.  Little  creates romances she might have had from what might have developed from the wealthy men she met through working as Coco’s second in charge.  It was exciting to see the sucess of Coco, starting out as just a hat maker and getting wealthier by the day as she expands into clothing.  

The story ends  just after May 2, 1921: Antoinette Chanel dies in Buenos Aires at the former Majestic Hotel. The cause of death is listed as “intoxicación,” or poisoning.  Little creates a very exciting but tragic account of why she was there.

We do miss out on the further huge sucess of Coco, her rise to international super star status as well as her possible flirtation  with The Nazis during World War Two, her post year time living in Switzerland and her return to France. 

“Judithe is the award-winning author of two historical novels, The Chanel Sisters and Wickwythe Hall. 

She grew up in Virginia and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. After studying at the Institute of European Studies and the Institut Catholique in Paris, France, and interning at the U.S. Department of State, she earned a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law where she was on the Editorial Board of the Journal of International Law and a Dillard Fellow. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and three children, where she is working on her third novel. When she’s not writing or practicing law, Judithe enjoys riding horses, reading, scouring the fields during Round Top Antiques Week, and volunteering. “ from judithelittle.COM 

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher - forthcoming January 11, 2022

 

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher - forthcoming January 2022

Sylvia Beach 

March 14, 1887 - Baltimore Maryland 

1901 Family moves to Paris

1914 - starts Shakespeare and Company

July 1920 - Meets James Joyce

1922 - publishes Ulysses 

I loved this marvelous book.  Based on the Paris experiences   of Slyvia Beach, founder of the very famous book store Shakespeare and Company it is a story of Slyvia’s love for Paris, for literature, for her book store, for Adrienne Monnier, owner of a French language book store and for helping the many expatriate writers in Paris. 

Among writers we meet in Slyvia’s store, featuring books in English for sale or loan, were James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot.  Joyce, as potrayed by Meher was an almost daily visitor to the shop.  Joyce was a “challenging” genius. Beach tried to help him with his marriage and eye problems as he worked on Ulysses. Meher really brought Joyce to life for me.    Sylvia worked very hard to get Ulysses published and fight American regulators  who had declared it “obscene”.  There is a lot of detail about court battles and clandestine distributions of the book.  Slyvia helped Joyce financially in his hard times, paying for his eye treatments.  We see his stormy relationship to Nora.

The Love story with Adrienne Monnier is very central to The book .  The erotic scenes are very powerful.  Same sex relationships were made legal during The French Revolution so things were more open there. Natalie Burney comes in for a mention which delighted me.  Of course Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas are featured.

I learned a lot about The day to day operations of the 

 store, often an operational and financial Challenge.

There is a bibliography of works Maher suggests at the close.

I totally endorse this book.  There is much more in it than I have mentioned.

There is bio data and information on The author on her website

https://www.kerrimaher.com/bio/