Dateline—Liberated Paris: The Hotel Scribe and the Invasion of the Press

Paris’s luxury Hotel Scribe bursts to life in Weber’s engaging behind-the-scenes tale of its starring role as communications central for war correspondents at the end of WWII. This well-researched profile of the legendary establishment captures the euphoria of war reporting, picking up where the author’s last book (News of Paris) ends. Drawing on articles, letters, and journals from literary luminaries such as Ernest Hemingway, A.J. Liebling, and Janet Flanner, Weber reveals how these writers pursued their work and took their pleasure. Most daring are the female correspondents such as Helen Kirkpatrick, who traveled with a French armored division, and Iris Carpenter of the Boston Globe, who joined a French Resistance group for “nocturnal ‘Hun hunting.’ ” In Part I, the Occupation ends and newspaper writers angle for a scoop. Part 2 evokes the sounds of clacking typewriters as correspondents fill the reception area and the basement bar, and the book closes with the hotel’s evacuation, during which writers decamped to Berlin. There are anecdotes and titillating details galore—Charles Collingwood is described as receiving guests to his room at the Scribe in a red silk dressing gown, surrounded by Picasso paintings he’d won playing poker. This story of remarkable, brave reporters is a colorful and satisfying historical treat. (Apr.)