His entry begins:My next book is about the dramatic liberation of Paris in 1944, so I am reading everything I can find about the city. I’ve visited Paris many times and had the opportunity to enjoy a couple of extended research visits there, but I still find it a hard city to really know. To me, Paris is best summed up not by its monuments or by its beautiful architecture, nor even by its people (so many of whom are not from Paris), but by its doorways. Normally uninviting on the outside, they sometimes open up to reveal beautiful courtyards, hidden green spaces, and opulent foyers. They have always suggested to me two truths about Paris: first, that its secrets will never fully reveal themselves and second, that there is always more to this magnificent city than meets the eye.Among the early praise for Dance of the Furies:
A city with more than 2,000 years of history behind it has a lot of tales to tell. The book I am currently reading, Graham Robb’s Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris, tells some of the most fascinating. Included are stories not only of Parisians themselves, but of some of the more famous visitors to the city, including Napoleon, who lost his virginity to a working girl in the Palais Royal; Hitler, who came for a few hours to pronounce his amateur artist’s condemnation of Sacré Coeur and the Panthéon; and Charles de Gaulle, who walked calmly out of Notre Dame the day after the liberation as shots from a sniper landed at his feet. Also detailed are some of the macabre and bizarre stories that have given the history of Paris its distinct character, such as...[read on]
“Neiberg tells a lively story. His smooth prose, keen grasp of revealing anecdotes, and transnational focus will find a large and attentive readership.”Learn more about Dance of the Furies at the Harvard University Press website.
—Leonard V. Smith, Oberlin College
“Dance of the Furies is a major contribution to our understanding of the Great War’s origins and nature. Well researched and well written, this book has a simple central thesis: the peoples of Europe neither expected nor desired war in 1914. But they did believe their nations’ causes were just, and their nations’ sacrifices must be avenged.Within weeks what began as a cabinet war, initiated by a small group of men, became a total war whose passions defied compromise and whose hatreds left a legacy of militarism, racism, and totalitarianism.”
—Dennis Showalter, author of Tannenberg: Clash of Empires
“In this important book, Neiberg adds greatly to our understanding of the popular mood and political climate of the fateful year in which the twentieth century really started. Drawing on an impressive range of contemporary accounts, he explains convincingly how Europeans metamorphosed into committed belligerents only after their armies had crossed international borders and the reality of modern war—invasion, atrocities, mass casualties—reached civilians on the home front.”
—William J. Philpott, author of Three Armies on the Somme
The Page 99 Test: Dance of the Furies.
Writers Read: Michael S. Neiberg.
--Marshal Zeringue
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