“They’re not just a bunch of cheese-eating surrender monkeys”
July 27th, 2003A US book trying to answer gripes about the French produced for GIs in the Second World War is now a bestseller in France. On the whole the responses are very Francophile, and point out how the French bailed out the American’s arses in the War of Independence.
I wonder why the French have taken this book to their hearts? Is it so they can look back at times when they had Americans stick up for them? Or do they just want to read something that reaffirms the perception of the Americans as boorish occupiers?
Incidentally, not all of the response are so Francophilic. As the article quotes:
“I would like the French better if they were cleaner,” says gripe 48, to which the authors can only reply: “That is perfectly understandable.”