The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death, and Betrayal at theHotel Ritzin Paris

This is a new book. Condition: Brand New.

Established in 1898 in the heart of Paris on the Place Vendome, the Hotel Ritz instantly became an icon of the city frequented by film stars and celebrity writers, American heiresses and risque flappers, politicians, playboys, and princes. In June 1940, when France fell to the Germans, orders from Berlin specified that the Hotel Ritz would be the only luxury hotel of its kind in occupied Paris.

Tilar J. Mazzeo traces the history of this cultural landmark from its opening in fin de siecle Paris to the modern era. At its center, The Hotel on Place Vendome chronicles life at the Ritz during wartime, when the hotel simultaneously served as headquarters to the highest-ranking German officers, such as Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, and home to wealthy patrons (and to the spies among them) who stayed on in Paris.

Mazzeo takes us into the grand palace's suites, bars, dining rooms, and wine cellars, revealing a hotbed of illicit affairs and deadly intrigue, as well as stunning acts of defiance and treachery. The result is the story of The Hotel on Place Vendome-a singular season at the world-class hotel, an intimate and riveting portrait of the last days of the Second World War.

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Paperback / softback
ISBN13: 9780061791048
Published: March 2015

Number of pages: 320
Width: 135 mm
Height: 203 mm
Depth: 18 mm

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc