Soldiers of the Night: The Story of the French Resistance

by David Schoenbrun

Overview

"The most complete account of the French Resistance in English, and the most sensitive... A masterful rendering of the Resistance..." -- Philip Hallie, The New York Times

"A celebration and a memorial... Mr. Schoenbrun has had long conversations with a number of the best-known survivors, each one the keeper of a sacred flame... the fullest account of the French Resistance in English." -- Robert O. Paxton, The New York Review of Books

"Political history chiefly, not heroics: the most extensive account in English of the two French Resistances -- that of the Underground against Vichy and the Nazis, and that of de Gaulle against all other claimants to authority over fallen France... including, prominently, the Allies... A memorable and important book." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Former CBS Paris bureau chief David Schoenbrun gives us an excellent, solidly researched account of the struggle waged by that gallant handful who sabotaged railroads and power plants, rescued Allied fliers and Jewish fugitives, assassinated German and Vichy officials, then fought pitched battles against elite Wehrmacht formations... With great objectivity and verve, Schoenbrun chronicles the often muddled, uncoordinated efforts of the Resistance through the four dark years of Nazi occupation. Systematically and factually, he explains the workings on the fragmented organizations that kept on fighting in spite of the Germans' ruthless attempts to stamp them out." -- Martin Sokolinsky, Christian Science Monitor

"[A] marvelous book... stories of heroism and self-sacrifice that challenge belief. [Schoenbrun] has created a prodigious work crowded with compelling stories..." -- Richard J. Walton, Saturday Review

"Important... richly deserving of acclaim... The first comprehensive account in English of the French Resistance... held together by a fine reporter's instinct of how to tell a story and how to tell it well." -- Houston Chronicle

Product Details

BN ID:	2940156965052
Publisher:	Plunkett Lake Press
Publication date:	11/16/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	512
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Born in New York City, David Schoenbrun (1915-1988) graduated from City College in 1934 and taught high school French and Spanish before working as a free-lance writer on foreign affairs to later become one of America’s most distinguished and versatile journalists, noted for his radio and television broadcasts, lectures, articles and books. Schoenbrun went to Europe in 1941 with the War Information Office as editor of the Western European desk. After joining the US Army in 1943, he was assigned to General Eisenhower’s headquarters in Algiers in Military Intelligence and went into France in the 1944 Provence landings as a combat correspondent with the First French Army.

In 1947 Edward R. Murrow recruited Schoenbrun to CBS and appointed him chief Paris correspondent for CBS News. He reported the birth of the State of Israel and its war of independence in 1948. In 1961, Schoenbrun became CBS’s chief correspondent in Washington, where he reported on the Kennedy years. In 1964 he left CBS to write books and work in free-lance broadcasting, appearing nightly on Channel 11-TV (NY) and on network talk shows.

His eight books are As France Goes, The Three Lives of Charles de Gaulle, Vietnam: How We Got In; How To Get Out, Triumph in Paris: The Exploits of Benjamin Franklin, America Inside Out, Soldiers of the Night: The Story of the French Resistance and On and Off the Air: An Informal History of CBS News.

Schoenbrun was awarded France’s Palmes Littéraires, Croix de Guerre and Légion d’honneur with rank of Chevalier, the Overseas Press Club Award for Best Radio Reporting from Abroad (1953), Best Television Reporting from Abroad (1955), Best Book for As France Goes (1957), Best Magazine Article of the Year (1959) and the Alfred I. Dupont Award as Best Commentator of the Year (1960).