Bibliography, appendix, and index. Review by Donna F. Ryan, Gallaudet University, for H-France, December 1997. W.D. Halls has added again to our perceptions of the complex, perplexing, and morally ambiguous Vichy period.
Halls takes a thematic approach and generally follows a chronological pattern.
Recalling that in 1940 the churches would become the only French institutions which were still functional, though not unscathed, Halls reminds us that understanding the relations among the state, French society, and the churches is central to grasping what would take place during the war. The clash between the Catholic church and the French republican secularists led to much dissension, culminating in working class abandonment of the church. Here Halls cautions readers about the pitfalls of measuring piety from church records alone. Halls characterizes the Catholic church hierarchy in 1940 as old and out of tune with the French population, but members of an age and experience cohort with Marshal Philippe Petain. Operating on conservative political premises, the Catholic leadership did little to criticize Hitler even in the pre-war period.