3/5

Forgot to write a review for this book despite finishing it two weeks ago which I think speaks to some of its flaws. While not exactly riveting or revelatory there are definitely some interesting nuggets here about French attitudes to the Vichy capitulation and historical memory of the Resistance. That being said, this seems like an unsettled topic in French history and the book ends up feeling rather unsettled as a result. The trial of the Octogenarian Petain is the sort of national humiliation and reckoning few nations could willing put themselves through, and the comparisons to the previous generations agonies during the Dreyfus affair seem apt.

That being said, the trial itself was confused, and did not settle the question of Petain’s or the nations culpability in Nazi collaboration. It is somewhat remarkable France did not explode into a civil war or at least an Italian style Years of Lead following the Second World War. Did the trial of Petain help prevent this out come? Did it create divides in French politics that we still feel today? Did the collapse of the 4th Republic come directly downstream from such an inconclusive trial? Lots of unanswered questions here, and while Jackson tries to shed some new light it feels like these are perpetually unsettled issues.