It took me a while to pick this book up. I didn’t know anything about it and wasn’t sure if I would be interested. It sat around as I read other books but finally I decided to give it a try. I was hooked from the start.
Nix begins this story in the late 1990’s when Robert de La Rochefoucald takes the stand in defense of a man on trial for signing paperwork that sent train cars worth of French Jews to concentration camps. Rochefoucald had met the man in the 1960s and had the opportunity to ask him about the resistance in that area of the country. Rochefoucald had noticed that there were a large number of Jews fighting in the resistance in this area of the country. He asked why there were so many and had been told they had a man in the government who told them every time there was going to be a round up so that they could flee. Rochefoucald learned this man in the government was the same man on trial and so testified.
Nix then turns to the life of Rochefoucald and his exploits during World War II. He outlines how he was denounced by someone in his home town and was alerted to it by the mailman. The teenager Rochefoucald decided he had to flee to Britain. To do so he had to go south to Vichy France and then on to Spain.
After making it to Britain he trained with the British to become a Sabotuer. After the training was complete he parachuted back into France and began his work. He had numerous close calls and was detained by the nazis more than once but survived to lead a raid against the Nazis at the end of the war. He received numerous medals and honors for his time in the resistance and in the French Army.
Overall this is a great read. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars.
“The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not.”
Friedrich August von Hayek
Alexander walked down 7th Avenue for several minutes. The sheer number of people walking down the street was astounding. Many of them held small rectangular devices in their hands. Many of them also had strange ear coverings. Alexander continued to walk and soon found himself in Times Square. The flashing billboards and millions of illuminated pixels were dizzying.
Truly this was a remarkable civilization. The magnitude of their grandeur was unprecedented. Alexander could tell that this square was a shrine. As he had traveled to see the Oracle at Delphi so too had many thousands of people travel to this site. Was there something holy about it? What insights could be gathered from this glittering acropolis?
Amidst the jarring sounds of what must have been music Alexander gravitated towards a crowd that appeared to be watching something. As he drew closer he noticed a performer. Alexander watched the gyrations of the man’s body as the crowd cheered. Alexander was witnessing his first break dancing performance. He watched as the performer skipped around the rectangle formed by the crowd collecting money. Once he had secured the amount he was looking for he continued to perform. Alexander watched dispassionately as the performer spun on his head and then back before jumping onto his feet and concluding ...
