{"product_id":"the-man-who-murdered-admiral-bndicte-vergez-chaignon-9781032520988","title":"The Man Who Murdered Admiral Darlan: Vichy, the Allies and the Resistance in French North Africa","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn November 1942 Anglo-American forces landed in French North Africa, which soon afterwards broke with Marshal P騁ain's Vichy regime in France and re-entered the war on the Allies' side. On Christmas Eve the high commissioner Admiral Fran輟is Darlan was assassinated in Algiers. Why? Like the press and public opinion in Britain and America, General Charles de Gaulle's Free French movement and the resistance in France were appalled that the Allies had allowed Darlan to retain office, even though as prime minister under P騁ain he had previously advocated military collaboration with Nazi Germany. Few mourned Darlan's death, many were relieved, some were jubilant. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHis killer was Fernand Bonnier de la Chapelle. Who was this twenty year old and what drove him to murder? B駭馘icte Vergez-Chaignon paints a sympathetic portrait of the young idealist manipulated by local resistance leaders. As she tells Bonnier's story, the author illuminates the imbroglio of North Africa's competing political forces. She traces Bonnier's short life, the assassination, his court-martial and execution within 48 hours, the subsequent judicial investigations which became bogged down in the complex rivalry between the Allies, the remnants of the Vichy regime, the Resistance and other factions. The story ends with Bonnier's posthumous rehabilitation and recognition as a member of the French Resistance.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBonnier's biography reads like an absorbing novel, with its twists and turns, reconstructed dialogue and author's acute observations. As well as being a tragic human story, It is an illuminating study of the convoluted political context of the affair, which will be unfamiliar to some Anglophone readers. It is an academically rigorous piece of original research, based in part on previously inaccessible family archives\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eB駭馘icte Vergez-Chaignon's story of Darlan's assassination was received in France as\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e* 'a shocking book and a historian's great work' (\u003ci\u003eLe Patriote R駸istant\u003c\/i\u003e) \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e* 'a detailed enquiry ... bordering on a detective novel which brings out the conspiratorial atmosphere reigning in Algiers in the wake of the Allied landing of 8 November 1942' (\u003ci\u003eLe Monde des Livres\u003c\/i\u003e) \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e* it 'shows the extent to which the 1940s were years of complete ambiguity' (\u003ci\u003eLe Figaro Litt駻aire\u003c\/i\u003e) \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e* 'B駭馘icte Vergez-Chaignon, a meticulous historian, paints the portrait of a young idealist dying to wash away the stain of defeat' (\u003ci\u003eMidi Libre\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e B駭馘icte Vergez-Chaignon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1032520981\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781032520988\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Routledge\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/31\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 222\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.10lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.56d","brand":"B駭馘icte Vergez-Chaignon","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44254887313663,"sku":"9781032520988","price":170.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_cbf554c2-ff4d-49a1-ab98-e164ffbd8025.jpg?v=1694614898","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-man-who-murdered-admiral-bndicte-vergez-chaignon-9781032520988","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}