This heroic true story of the three youngest children of a bourgeois Catholic family who worked together in the French Resistance is told by an American writer who has known and admired the family for five decades
Charles Kaiser is a former reporter for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal and a former press critic for Newsweek. He is the author of 1968 in America (Grove/Atlantic), one of the most admired popular histories of the music, politics, and culture of the 1960s, now used as a textbook in colleges across the United States, and The Gay Metropolis (Houghton Mifflin and Grove), the landmark history of gay life in America, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a Lambda Literary Award winner. His articles and reviews have also appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, New York, Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Guardian (UK), and New Republic, among many other publications.
"Charles Kaiser’s The Cost of Courage combines a thorough
and quite accessible history of Europe’s six-year murderous
paroxysm with a deftly told story…[a] stimulating book…[It]
documents, through the life of an extraordinary family, one of the
20th century’s most fascinating events—the German occupation of the
City of Light. But it is also a subtle history of the
complexity of the French Resistance and its legacies.” —The
Wall Street Journal
"In the same manner a young girl's diary once vivified the
Holocaust and the fate of 6 million for a postwar audience, Kaiser
tells, through the Boulloche family, the story of lives turned
complicated by the bizarre realities of Vichy France. At once
heroic and heartbreaking, this story leaves an indelible
mark." —Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
"[The Cost of Courage] is a mix of history, biography and
memoir which reads like a nerve-racking thriller." —The
Guardian (US)
"Kaiser reveals the moral ambiguity of resistance when one’s enemy
is as ruthless as Nazi Germany...[He] makes the most of the
inherent drama in the story he tells, but his touchstone is his
relentless search for truth amid the fog of war...brilliant.
" —The Washington Post
"Moving...Compelling...a story with the detailed intimacy of a
journal and the powerful immediacy of a novel."—The Christian
Science Monitor
"Dramatic...The Cost of Courage admirably explores the
dynamics of a painful reckoning." —Newsday
"[A] vivid family portrait that examines four siblings’
heroic contribution to the French resistance of WWII...a riveting
paean to unsung war heroes in occupied France." —Publisher's
Weekly
"[R]emarkable...a story of recovery and resilience...The Cost of
Courage is a poignant reminder that there are many untold
stories of World War II, but that those who lived them will soon be
gone." —BookPage
"Kaiser has expertly interwoven historical facts about World War
II--particularly what the British, Americans and French were doing
to fight the Germans--with the personal narratives of the Boulloche
family and of some of their closest friends to create a
well-rounded, behind-the-scenes portrayal of their wartime
lives." —Shelf Awareness
"[Charles Kaiser's] effort has produced a wonderful history,
reading like a spy novel while serving as a testament to the
efforts of many French men and women in their fight for
freedom. The Cost of Courage vividly and eloquently
recreates the heroism of many through the eyes of one French
family." —Bookreporter.com
"[R]iveting... Charles Kaiser captures the devotion the
brother and two sisters have for one another and their extended
family." —The Missourian
"The Cost of Courage is both a history and a morality tale,
the story on one level of the Boulloche family and the risks they
both took and did not take to preserve their lives and their
integrity. It is also a key chapter in the history of France under
German occupation, when some citizens, fired by patriotism, risked
all to resist the Nazis—as the nation split between occupied and
Vichy, southern France—while others survived by sitting on their
hands. Both, in tragic ways, paid the cost of their
decisions." —America Magazine
“The Cost of Courage is good history, loving biography,
excellent reporting. It turns out the cost of courage is beyond the
means of most of us.” —Edmund White, author of Inside a
Pearl
“Even now, almost three quarters of a century after the second
world war, the role played by the French resistance in German
occupied and Vichy France is often overlooked. Charles Kaiser has
not only unearthed the story of an extraordinary family, but set it
against a world in which courage, selflessness and resilience were
of greater importance than personal survival and collaboration,
however trivial. It makes for a fascinating book.” —Caroline
Moorehead, author of A Train In Winter: An Extraordinary Story
of Women, Friendship, and Resistance In Occupied France
“In this poignant personal tale, Kaiser explores the emotions and
breaks through the silences that haunted an amazing family after
their experiences in the French resistance to Nazi occupation. The
result is a compelling and heart-wrenching book about courage,
love, and the complex shadings of heroism.” —Walter Isaacson,
author of Steve Jobs
“One legacy of the Nazi occupation of France was secrecy, a shield
that long hid the heroism of resisters no less than the shame of
collaborators. In this gripping true-life drama, Charles Kaiser
reveals the long-buried story of one prosperous Parisian family
that paid a high price for the bravery of its children. Until now,
only through silence could they live with the painful cost of their
courage.” —Alan Riding, author of And The Show Went On:
Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris
“A very compelling story.” —Robert O. Paxton, author of Vichy
France
“Charles Kaiser deserves a Legion of Honor red ribbon for bringing
to vibrant life the suspenseful, never-before-told true story of a
family's courage, suffering and ultimate triumph amid the
existential dangers and challenges of the French Resistance.
Chapeau!” —Hendrik Hertzberg, author of Politics: Observations
& Arguments, 1966-2004
Praise for The Gay Metropolis:
"A dramatic, often affecting account of the emergence of gay people
from fear and self-hatred into uncloseted, self-confident
participation in society." —The Washington Post
"Truly sensational...This book should be read by thousands of young
men and women who think they are alone. Charles Kaiser's
sensational book will give them heart and pride." —Ed Koch
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