Is Paris Burning?
Popular History Accessible Primary Sources
🇫🇷 French🇩🇪 German🌍 Multi-Perspective
The liberation of Paris in August 1944 and Hitler's order to destroy the city.
The Verdict
The title is Hitler's own question, cabled to his staff as the Allies closed in — and the fact that Paris did not burn is the drama. Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre reconstruct the tense days of August 1944 from a hundred angles: the resistance rising, Leclerc's tanks racing, and the German commander Dietrich von Choltitz quietly declining to carry out the order to reduce the city to rubble. Told in the panoramic, cross-cutting style the authors made famous, it turns a near-catastrophe into a genuine thriller.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The liberation of Paris as a day-by-day drama
- The story of an order disobeyed
- Many-stranded, cinematic history
- The resistance and the city's near-destruction
Look elsewhere if you want
- Front-line combat narrative
- A scholarly, single-thesis treatment
- A single, tightly focused storyline
Why We Rated It 4.4
Historical Context
Is Paris Burning? (1965) chronicles the liberation of Paris in August 1944, including the role of German military governor Dietrich von Choltitz, who did not execute Hitler's order to destroy the city. It was adapted into a star-studded 1966 film.
Events Covered
Read It Alongside
The Guns at Last Light Rick Atkinson · 2013 · ★ 4.6
Popular History 
Six Armies in Normandy John Keegan · 1982 · ★ 4.4
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Naples '44 Norman Lewis · 1978 · ★ 4.7
Memoir Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-0446392679
Read This Against
The same events seen from a different vantage point. The fullest understanding often lives in the space between accounts that don't agree.
Brave Men Ernie Pyle · 1944 · American
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Band of Brothers Stephen Ambrose · 1992 · American
Popular History The Guns at Last Light Rick Atkinson · 2013 · American
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The Longest Day Cornelius Ryan · 1959
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D-Day: June 6, 1944 Stephen Ambrose · 1994
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Did the German commander really refuse to destroy Paris?
- Von Choltitz did not carry out the destruction order; how much credit he deserves is debated, but the city was spared.
- What does the title mean?
- It echoes Hitler's reported demand to know whether Paris was burning as German forces withdrew.