I've always been fascinated with history. The study of economic history allows me to combine my passion for understanding the past with a rigorous and systematic set of analytical tools. In my own work I'm interested in understanding the economic, political, and institutional transformations that have created the modern world. The books I've selected here help us better understand quite how different the past and they have proven to be invaluable to me as inspirations.
Marc Bloch was one of the greatest historians of the 20th century. He was also hero of the French Resistance, tortured and executed by the notorious Nazi Klaus Barbie. Feudal Society(2 volumes) is perhaps his best book.
It is often said that the past is a foreign country, and it is true that the world of the Middle Ages is alien to us in many respects. What Bloch does is to provide a systematic examination of all aspects of that world, that is he examines it it from a legal, a sociological, an anthropological, an economic, and a political perspective.
In so doing, he paints a remarkable portrait of a coherent, self-contained society. The economy was basic, laws and politics were personalized, but it was a social and political order that made sense in its own terms. More recent historians have criticized specific aspects of Bloch's vision of feudalism…
Marc Bloch said that his goal in writing Feudal Society was to go beyond the technical study a medievalist would typically write and 'dismantle a social structure.' In this outstanding and monumental work, which has introduced generations of students and historians to the feudal period, Bloch treats feudalism as living, breathing force in Western Europe from the ninth to the thirteenth century. At its heart lies a magisterial account of relations of lord and vassal, and the origins of the nature of the fief, brought to life through compelling accounts of the nobility, knighthood and chivalry, family relations, political and…
Although written in the 1960s, this book in uncannily timely. It outlines how the society we live in is shaped by propaganda--not just political propaganda, but also a wider propaganda for certain "way of life" that seems very individualistic but is in fact the opposite. It helps not only in recognizing propaganda, but also in escaping it as much as possible.
This seminal study and critique of propaganda from one of the greatest French philosophers of the 20th century is as relevant today as when it was first published in 1962. Taking not only a psychological approach, but a sociological approach as well, Ellul’s book outlines the taxonomy for propaganda, and ultimately, it’s destructive nature towards democracy. Drawing from his own experiences fighting for the French resistance against the Vichy regime, Ellul offers a unique insight into the propaganda machine.
Sadly, there is not one Jewish family in this world who does not have a connection to the Holocaust. I imagine that my pull towards World War II heroic women is become I am a Jewish woman. I have a passion for books and many of the characters in my choices share this passion. I also have a passion for Britain. France is not too shabby either; the Parisian setting in some of the books are descriptive and gripping.
A story of one young woman drafted into Churchill’s overseas spy network, aiding the French Resistance behind enemy lines and working to liberate Nazi-occupied Paris. London, 1941: Due to Rose Teasdale’s fluency in French, she is recruited for the Special Operations Executive, a secret British organization that conducts espionage in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Rose parachutes into France with a new codename: Dragonfly. Posing as a cosmetics saleswoman in Paris, she ferries messages to and from the Resistance. (Of course, typically in fiction,) she falls for a French Resistance fighter who has also dedicated himself to the cause.
A riveting story of World War II and the courage of one young woman as she is drafted into Churchill’s overseas spy network, aiding the French Resistance behind enemy lines and working to liberate Nazi-occupied Paris…
London, 1941: In a cramped bunker in Winston Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms, underneath Westminster’s Treasury building, civilian women huddle at desks, typing up confidential documents and reports. Since her parents were killed in a bombing raid, Rose Teasdale has spent more hours than usual in Room 60, working double shifts, growing accustomed to the burnt scent of the Prime Minister’s cigars permeating the stale…
This book completely immersed me into the tragedy of WWII. I loved the sisters' stories and loved how they each had their own way of dealing with life's horrific events. I did learn a lot of history, but mostly, I learned how people faced pure evil - it's a sobering but important lesson. I loved how Kristin Hannah paced the story as well...it was riveting and well-written. I cried at the end, which is rare, but it was a hopeful cry! This is a book that has stayed with me long after I turned the last page and I highly recommend it, along with all Kristin Hannah books. She is an excellent writer, with very well-written, immersive stories!!
Soon to be a major motion picture, The Nightingale is a multi-million copy bestseller across the world. It is a heart-breakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the endurance of women.
This story is about what it was like to be a woman during World War II when women's stories were all too often forgotten or overlooked . . . Vianne and Isabelle Mauriac are two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals and passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path towards survival, love and freedom in war-torn France.
My grandfather joined the French Resistance in his early twenties in 1942. He told me his story when I was a teenager, which has had a lasting effect on me. I have since taught college students about the French Resistance and published on the way it has been depicted in films, TV series, novels, and comics since 1942. My book Revisiting the French Resistance will appeal to those interested in the relationship between history and fiction, and/or who enjoy stories of ordinary, yet exemplary individuals who at some point of history have felt compelled to say “no” to a situation deemed unacceptable.
The memoirs of freedom fighter Lucie Aubrac were written in a form of a diary kept during the nine months of her pregnancy during which, in addition to teaching history and raising her first child, the Resistance heroine managed to free her husband from the hands of the “Butcher of Lyons,” Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie, before flying to London to join the French Free Forces. A beautiful love story of a couple caught in the meshes of history and one of the very few personal accounts by and about a woman to shed light on a blind spot of history.
Lucie Aubrac (1912-2007), of Catholic and peasant background, was teaching history in a Lyon girls' school and newly married to Raymond, a Jewish engineer, when World War II broke out and divided France. The couple, living in the Vichy zone, soon joined the Resistance movement in opposition to the Nazis and their collaborators. Outwitting the Gestapo is Lucie's harrowing account of her participation in the Resistance: of the months when, though pregnant, she planned and took part in raids to free comrades-including her husband, under Nazi death sentence-from the prisons of Klaus Barbie, the infamous Butcher of Lyon. Her book…
Having spent much time in France, I’ve been party to some incredible stories of the war years. The beautiful home owned by friends was once gifted by General De Gaulle to the village baker for his work hiding Resistance messages in loaves of bread; 90-year-old Jeanne remembers her father hiding Jewish families and helping them cross into free France; woodlands are punctuated by wooden crosses marking execution sites. For a writer, this is irresistible material, and it has been an honour to write The Schoolteacher of Saint-Michel and The Lost Song of Paris in tribute to the many acts of bravery and resistance over four long years of German occupation.
Jamila Gavin is best known for Coram Boy, which enjoyed huge success and went on to become a stage production. Her latest book is an incredibly moving story of four schoolfriends who go on to take very different and equally demanding roles during World War Two. The character of Noor is based on the real-life SOE agent Noor Inayat Khan, an Indian princess who served as a wireless operator in Nazi-occupied Paris. This is a beautifully written, emotionally engaging story of women barely in their twenties, and a harrowing insight into life in Paris for Jewish families and those working to help them.
A stunning and heartbreaking new novel from Jamila Gavin, the bestselling and award-winning author of Coram Boy and The Wheel of Surya.
England, 1937.
Gwen, Noor, Dodo and Vera are four very different teenage girls, with something in common. Their parents are all abroad, leaving them in their English boarding school, where they soon form an intense friendship. The four friends think that no matter what, they will always have each other. Then the war comes.
The girls find themselves flung to different corners of the war, from the flying planes in the Air Transport Auxiliary to going undercover in…
WW2 was part of my family history; my RAF father and three of his seven brothers had been volunteers; one was killed. Plunging into the rabbit warren of SOE, I discovered a secret world of agents and dangerous missions, heroism, and horrors experienced deep beneath the official historical narrative. Ordinary men and women threw themselves into selfless service, putting their need to stop the Nazis even above personal survival. These books are a tribute to all such unsung heroes. Their lives should not be in vain; they inspire me and might inspire YOU. These recommended books bring them back to life, if only through our admiration and respect.
Nancy Wake’s story is that of a true heroine. I was captivated by it when I first read about it years ago while researching the SOE for my own novels. Already in the opening chapters, I was riveted.
I could fully identify with Nancy’s urge for adventure and world travel: she left her home country, Australia, for England and France at a very young age, just as I had left Guyana, South America, for India and Europe in my early twenties.
Like Pearl Witherington, Nancy was recruited as an SOE agent and dropped into France to work clandestinely as an agent. Reading stories of such tremendous bravery inspires me to find my own strength in times of hardship, and basically to always count my blessings and be a better human being. I realize how fortunate I am in my own safe and comparatively privileged life, and it helps me not…
She risked everything for her country, but now she's fighting for her life.
A gripping tale of love and espionage in Occupied France, based on true events.
February 1933: When her aunt gifts her two hundred pounds, twenty-year-old Nancy Wake embarks on a world cruise. Afterwards, she becomes a journalist and finds work in Paris. The city is glamorous, brimming with journalists, artists, and refugees. While travelling across Europe on assignments, she catches the eye of wealthy industrialist Henri Fiocca, but romance is the last thing on her mind. Later, when they meet again, destiny intervenes. But as the clouds…
While a graduate student and then an army interpreter in Germany, I listened to reminiscences from both Third Reich military veterans and former French resistance fighters. Their tales picked up where my father's stories of pre-war European life always ended, and my fascination with this history knew no bounds. On occasion I would conceal my American identity and mentally play the spy as I traversed Europe solo.A dozen years later upon the death of my father, I learned from my mother his great secret: he had concealed his wartime life as an American spy inside the Reich. His private journals telling of bravery and intrigue inspire each of my novels.
My personal library holds dozens of histories and first-person accounts dealing with the French Resistance. Some are scholarly, others more popular in treatment, but many so boring that I barely reached the final page. Cobb’s work however is a great exception, depicting in smooth prose and outstanding research the dramatic development of the Résistance. You'll meet heroes and heroines, and see the extraordinary lengths taken by simple French citizens to undermine fascist tyranny and aid Allied efforts. Here is the insight needed to truly appreciate accurate fictional portrayals of this time.
The French resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II was a struggle in which ordinary people fought for their liberty, despite terrible odds and horrifying repression. Hundreds of thousands of Frenchmen and women carried out an armed struggle against the Nazis, producing underground anti-fascist publications and supplying the Allies with vital intelligence.
The Resistancetouches on some of the strongest themes in life - courage, self-sacrifice, betrayal and struggle. It shatters the illusion of a unified Resistance created by General de Gaulle, and brings to vivid life a true story of heroes and conflicts forgotten over the next half-century as…
I went to school in France twice and have visited that country ten times, I think, so reading the first of this series was like being back in the Dordogne region that I love so much.
The pace is gentle, the characters glow, the story transports to one of the most beautiful and historic parts of France... After reading Bruno, Chief of Police, I plowed on through all the subsequent novels in this series—I think there are 17 last time I checked. All fun, relaxing reads with good police plots.
It’s fun to compare French policing with what we know of American cops and courts—a very different system, sometimes better than ours, sometimes not. I recommend this book because, if you enjoy it, you’ll have lots more pleasure ahead with the whole series!!
The first Dordogne Mystery starring Bruno, Chief of Police, France's favourite cop. EU inspectors are causing havoc in the little town of St Denis and local tempers are running high, but is it really cause for murder?
Market day in the ancient town of St Denis in south-west France. EU hygiene inspectors have been swooping on France's markets, while the locals hide contraband cheese in their houses and call the Brussels bureaucrats 'Gestapo'. Local police chief Bruno supports their resistance. Although, here in what was once Vichy France, words like 'Gestapo' and 'resistance' still carry a profound resonance.
This novelsweeps through centuries, pausing to relate interwoven stories of love, courage, and betrayal, all set on the hallowed ground that is Paris, a city I love.
The book’s strength is that succeeding generations of several fictional families trod the same Parisian streets, chapter after chapter, through seven hundred years of history. Before long, the city feels as familiar as your hometown.
Those families became my ancestors, their struggles my own. The long chapter on World War II brought me to tears. The whole book’s an intimate experience that leaves you homesick for the City of Lights, whether you’re a frequent visitor or an armchair tourist.
From the grand master of the historical novel comes a dazzling, epic portrait of the City of Light
Internationally bestselling author Edward Rutherfurd has enchanted millions of readers with his sweeping, multigenerational dramas that illuminate the great achievements and travails throughout history. In this breathtaking saga of love, war, art, and intrigue, Rutherfurd has set his sights on the most magnificent city in the world: Paris.
Moving back and forth in time across centuries, the story unfolds through intimate and vivid tales of self-discovery, divided loyalties , passion, and long-kept secrets of characters both fictional and real, all set against…
