Marianne in Chains: Daily Life in the Heart of France During the German Occupation Book

Gildea sets out to present occupied France during WWII in a new light. He shifts focus away from the Resistance and attempts to dispel the commonly accepted notion that occupied France was not such a brutally repressive place. Gildea does not ignored the harsh treatment and reaction of the Germans and the hardships that the French endured during the years of occupations but he instead focuses on how the French people learned to adapt and survive. He traces the emergence of new relationships between French and Germans in both business and pleasure and even demonstrated how the French did not view Vichy as negatively as believed. Not that the French are to be viewed as German supporters but in Gildea's mind they were not "poor victims" either. Very interesting, well researched, well documented work. This is quite a lengthy book but Gildea's writing form keep the reader interested--not as dry as a good number of other historical works!