'French and Germans, Germans and French' Revisited

It is difficult to forget a work of history that begins with a discussion of the author's dental history and ends with a reflection on the beret as symbol of the Vichy regime in France. Perhaps that is why Richard Cobb's French and Germans, Germans and French has stuck with me ever since I first read it as an undergraduate student. Out of print since it was first published in 1983, this unique study of the lived experience of occupation in France during two World Wars has been reissued as a handsome paperback in Penguin's ‘Modern Classics' series.