Culture November 22, 2013

Vichy France was a disgusting place. Harper’s readers were reminded of that in the October issue of the magazine, which included an excerpt from a 1945 handbook for American soldiers in occupied France. It featured useful tips on navigating filthy streets (where “the acute shortage of gasoline prevents refuse trucks from making daily rounds”), making do with corroded plumbing systems, and coping with villagers’ “malodorous custom of piling manure in front of houses.” These descriptions set the stage for Ian Buruma’s Year Zero: A History of 1945, which illustrates in harrowing detail how forging a new world order out of