And the Show Went on: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris Hardcover - 2010

Media reviews

“Gripping . . . We’ll always have Paris, but we may not feel quite the same about it after reading And the Show Went On.”
—Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The New York Times Book Review
 
“An arresting and detailed account . . .  A big story and insidiously troubling.”
—Richard Eder, The Los Angeles Times
 
“A carefully constructed and sympathetic account . . . Riding is very good at pointing to the complexities and ambiguities of the situation . . . An evocative book.”
—Modris Eksteins, The Wall Street Journal
 
“Monumentally researched, vividly written and troubling account of how the cultured citizens of Paris behaved while the Nazi swastika fluttered above the Eiffel Tower.”
—Tom Mackin, Newark Star-Ledger

“Meticulously researched . . . Riding’s book is an impressively comprehensive survey of the occupation years.”
—The Economist
 
“Only someone as deeply versed in French culture as is Alan Riding, and as completely in command of his subject, could have written this magisterial account of France’s authors and artists and filmmakers and musicians during the Occupation. It is star-studded and makes fascinating reading.”
—David Fromkin, author of A Peace to End All Peace
 
“[A] startling cultural history . . . A stark account of how we act when evil enters our door.”
—Kirkus
 
“A splendidly informed study of Parisian cultural elite during the dark years. Riding places brilliant portraits of leading individuals in the context of clearly depicted French politics, alive to the moral drama of people facing extreme choices across fluid ideological lines. A study of ambiguities, including the varying conduct of German occupiers, of accommodation, betrayal, and human and patriotic decency. A book of transcendent relevance.”
—Fritz Stern, author of Gold and Iron
 
“In this highly readable book, Alan Riding presents a thorough, balanced account of the ways French artists and writers responded to Nazi occupation, ranging from active resistance to enthusiastic collaboration.   Based on numerous interviews as well as published memoirs and diaries and the latest historical scholarship, this lively book will be of interest to specialists as well as to readers who wish to know more about that troubled period of French history.  Riding marshals details with the verve and care of a great reporter.”
—Susan Suleiman, C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University
 
“Engrossing . . . rich in detail.”
—Library Journal
 
“A superb account of intellectuals under pressure, how thought was married to action or, more frequently, inaction. A few heroes, a few villains, and many in between. It’s the in-betweens who seize our attention, those occupying a no-man’s land where resistance and collaboration dance a most delicate minuet. Alan Riding, deeply versed in French politics and culture, is the ideal guide to Parisian life under the Nazis. He has written a wonderful book.”
—Ward Just, author of An Unfinished Season and Echo House