Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944

Robert O. Paxton’s classic study of the aftermath of France’s sudden collapse under Nazi invasion utilizes captured German archives and other contemporary materials to construct a strong and disturbing account of the Vichy period in France. With a new introduction and updated bibliography, “Vichy France” demonstrates that the collaborationist government of Marshal Pétain did far more than merely react to German pressures. The Vichy leaders actively pursued their own double agenda–internally, the authoritarian and racist “national revolution,” and, externally, an attempt to persuade Hitler to accept this new France as a partner in his new Europe.