Books in English
French War Brides: Mademoiselle & The American Soldier
by Hilary Kaiser.
Following both World War I and II, about 6,500 Franco-American marriages took place between French mademoiselles and American soldiers, be they "doughboys" or GI's. These women, who came from different parts of France and diverse backgrounds, would later cross the Atlantic to join their husbands, settle in various corners of America, suffer culture shock, and adapt to marriage in a foreign land of postwar plenty with varying degrees of success. Despite these difficulties, like many other immigrants, they got on with it and survived. As the compelling oral histories in this book show, most of them did, in their own way, live the American dream.Based on archival research done in both the U.S. and France and oral history interviews,
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published by Paris Writers Press, New York, NY, 2017
ISBN:978-0-9840043-31 (paperback) ISBN:978-0-9840043-5-5 (e-book)
HILARY KAISER, Ph.D., is American by birth but also has French citizenship. Author of WWII Voices: American GI’s and the French Women Who Married Them and Des Amours de GI’s: les petites fiancees du debarquement, she is an oral historian and a retired associate professor of intercultural communication at the University of Paris.
TO ORDER:
WWII Voices: American GI's and the French Women Who Married Them
by Hilary Kaiser
These oral histories give voice to both American veterans who chose to reside in France after World War II and to French women who married GIs and subsequently emigrated to the United States.
They bring to life the realities of World War II in France, North Africa, England, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Germany.
Read an interview with Hilary Kaiser following the publication of the e-book.
(Note: for REVIEWS of this book, click here.)
TO ORDER:
French War Brides in America: an Oral History
by Hilary Kaiser
This book, a collection of oral histories, tells the story of mademoiselle and the GI by following the destinies of 15 French war brides – three from World War I and 12 from World War II. All of these women encountered cultural shock as they discovered an opulent and open society, but one which was also materialistic and racially segregated. But the women got on with it and survived. Although about half of the marriages ended in divorce, only about 150 of the women returned to France. Most of them, in their own way, lived the American Dream. Today these women are both French and American. They reflect the image of a successful betrothal between two cultures.
Originally published by Praeger Publishers, Westport, Conn. 2007
ISBN: 0-275-99398-1. ISBN-13: 978-0-275-993 DOI:10.1336/0275993981
(Note: for REVIEWS of this book, click here.)
Veteran Recall: Americans in France Remember the War
by Hilary Kaiser
This collection of reminiscences and poems of American veterans residing in France brings alive the realities of World War II, particularly in France but also in North Africa, the South Pacific, England, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Germany.Many compelling images emerge from these seventeen stories: a secret agent launching kayaks in cold Algerian waters, a six-foot-two sergeant wading ashore at Utah Beach, an American medic treating a German soldier in a Norman church, a young Frenchman hiding an American airman in a shepherd's hut, a commander crawling over to a burning tank to save on of his "boys", a WAC dancing in the streets of Paris on V-E Day.
Editions Heimdal, Bayeux, 2004.
ISBN: 2-84048-194-4