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At the start of 1938, containment of Nazi Germany by a coalition of eastern and traditional western democracies without resorting to battle was still a distinct possibility. By the end of 1938, however, Germany was much stronger, the traditional western democracies stood exclusively, and battle was basically certain. The root cause for these trends, argues Benjamin F. Martin, was the foreign and domestic procedures used by the French administration and embraced by the French people. In a riveting consideration of the dark days leading up to France's defeat and occupation, Martin unveils a great and civilized nation committing a kind of suicide in 1938. When the relative quiet in the first 1 / 4 ends with Germany's invasion of Austria, France is confronted with hard questions about its diplomatic and armed forces position, and the leftist political alliance called the Popular Forward makes its previous stand. In the second quarter, a feeling of doom begins to spread, mirrored in the year's movies noir, such as Marcel Carné's The Slot of Shadows. France and Britain capitulate to Hitler at the Munich discussion in September, detailed by Jean-Paul Sartre in his novel, The Reprieve. Through the fall, the government aggressively confronts Fascist Italy and labor militancy, in that way retrieving, on the cheap, a feeling of dignity. Martin concludes by looking back on the price tag on decisions manufactured in 1938 from the perspective of 1940. Exhibiting his trademark convincing narrative style, sense for uncommon and telling detail, and stunning portraits of specific women and men, Martin brings impressive texture to this depiction of the contemporary society and period. He recreates life in France through the time when terrors to come could already be dreamed only too well.
