The Hotel on Place Vendome
Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris
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Narrated by:
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Elizabeth Wiley
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By:
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Tilar J. Mazzeo
About this listen
Set against the backdrop of the Nazi occupation of World War II, The Hôtel on Place Vendôme is the captivating history of Paris' world-famous Hôtel Ritz - a breathtaking tale of glamour, opulence, and celebrity and of dangerous liaisons, espionage, and resistance.
When France fell to the Germans in June 1940, the legendary Hôtel Ritz on the Place Vendôme - an icon of Paris frequented by film stars and celebrity writers, American heiresses and risqué flappers, playboys, and princes - was the only luxury hotel of its kind allowed in the occupied city by order of Adolf Hitler.
Tilar J. Mazzeo traces the history of this cultural landmark from its opening in fin de siècle Paris. At its center The Hotel on Place Vendôme is an extraordinary chronicle of life at the Ritz during wartime, when the hotel was simultaneously headquarters to the highest-ranking German officers, such as Reichsmarshal Hermann Göring, and home to exclusive patrons, including Coco Chanel. 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.
Rich in detail, The Hotel on Place Vendôme is a remarkable look at this extraordinary crucible where the future of postwar France - and all of postwar Europe - was transformed.
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After the Romanovs
- Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque Through Revolution and War
- By: Helen Rappaport
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Paris has always been a city of cultural excellence, fine wine and food, and the latest fashions. But it has also been a place of refuge for those fleeing persecution, never more so than before and after the Russian Revolution and the fall of the Romanov dynasty. For years, Russian aristocrats had enjoyed all that Belle Époque Paris had to offer, spending lavishly when they visited. It was a place of artistic experimentation, such as Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. But the brutality of the Bolshevik takeover forced Russians of all types to flee their homeland.
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Mildly interesting story of Russians exiles
- By Conrad Hastler on 05-20-22
By: Helen Rappaport
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Paris
- After the Liberation 1944-1949
- By: Antony Beevor, Artemis Cooper
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In this brilliant synthesis of social, political, and cultural history, Antony Beevor and Artemis Cooper present a vivid and compelling portrayal of the City of Lights after its liberation. Paris became the diplomatic battleground in the opening stages of the Cold War.
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Worthwhile listen
- By DanBudda on 07-27-16
By: Antony Beevor, and others
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Children of the Night
- The Strange and Epic Story of Modern Romania
- By: Paul Kenyon
- Narrated by: Paul Kenyon
- Length: 19 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The country that gave us Vlad Dracula, and whose citizens consider themselves descendants of ancient Rome, has traditionally preferred the status of enigmatic outsider. But this beautiful and unexplored land has experienced some of the most disastrous leaderships of the last century. After a relatively benign period led by a dutiful king and his vivacious, British-born queen, the country oscillated wildly.
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A haunting look at Romanian history
- By Steve Adams on 07-19-24
By: Paul Kenyon
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The Last Palace
- Europe's Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House
- By: Norman Eisen
- Narrated by: Jeff Goldblum
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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When Norman Eisen moved into the US ambassador’s residence in Prague, returning to the land his mother had fled after the Holocaust, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture in his new home. These symbols of Nazi Germany were remnants of the residence’s forgotten history, and evidence that we never live far from the past. From that discovery unspooled the twisting, captivating tale of four of the remarkable people who had called this palace home. Their story is Europe’s....
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Great book despite goldblum’s narration
- By Fernando Ferrante on 01-19-19
By: Norman Eisen
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Spain in Our Hearts
- Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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For three crucial years in the 1930s, the Spanish Civil War dominated headlines in America and around the world as volunteers flooded to Spain to help its democratic government fight off a fascist uprising led by Francisco Franco and aided by Hitler and Mussolini. Today we're accustomed to remembering the war through Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and Robert Capa's photographs. But Adam Hochschild has discovered some less familiar yet far more compelling characters who reveal the full tragedy and importance of the war.
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Great book very well written and narrated
- By James750 on 05-12-16
By: Adam Hochschild
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Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy
- Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures, 1935-1961
- By: Nicholas Reynolds
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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While he was the curator of the CIA Museum, Nicholas Reynolds, a longtime military intelligence expert, began to discover tantalizing clues that suggested Ernest Hemingway's involvement in the Second World War was much more complex and dangerous than has been previously understood. Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy brings to light for the first time this riveting secret side of Hemingway's life - when he worked closely with both the American OSS and the Soviet NKVD to defeat Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
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So entertaining you'd think it was fiction
- By Austin on 03-16-17
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Cuba Libre!
- Che, Fidel, and the Improbable Revolution That Changed World History
- By: Tony Perrottet
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Historian and journalist Tony Perrottet chronicles the events of the Cuban Revolution and the figures at the center of the guerrilla uprising: Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and the scrappy band of rebel men and women who followed them.
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HUGE anti-commie here...
- By Don C. on 10-22-21
By: Tony Perrottet
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Agent Josephine
- American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy
- By: Damien Lewis
- Narrated by: Damien Lewis
- Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Prior to World War II, Josephine Baker was a music-hall diva renowned for her singing and dancing, her beauty and sexuality; she was the most highly paid female performer in Europe. When the Nazis seized her adopted city, Paris, she was banned from the stage, along with all "negroes and Jews". Yet, instead of returning to America, she vowed to stay and to fight the Nazi evil. Overnight she went from performer to Resistance spy. In Agent Josephine best-selling author Damien Lewis uncovers this little known history of the famous singer's life.
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A documentary
- By Picky Buyer on 07-18-22
By: Damien Lewis
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Madame Fourcade's Secret War
- The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler
- By: Lynne Olson
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1941 a 31-year-old Frenchwoman, a young mother born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization - the only woman to serve as a chef de résistance during the war. Strong-willed, independent, and a lifelong rebel against her country’s conservative, patriarchal society, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was temperamentally made for the job. No other French spy network lasted as long or supplied as much crucial intelligence. Fourcade was captured twice by the Nazis - and both times she managed to escape.
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Marvelous book, inappropriate narrator
- By Phoebs on 03-07-19
By: Lynne Olson
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A Woman of No Importance
- The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
- By: Sonia Purnell
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her." The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill's "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and - despite her prosthetic leg - helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it.
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Maybe it’s the narrator?
- By Andrea on 09-18-19
By: Sonia Purnell
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The Women Who Wrote the War
- The Riveting Saga of World War II's Daredevil Women Correspondents
- By: Nancy Caldwell Sorel
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Nancy Sorel’s portrait pays homage to these unsung heroes. They came from Boston, New York, Milwaukee, and St. Louis; from Yakima, Washington; Austin, Texas; and Sioux City, Iowa; from San Francisco and all points east. They left comfortable homes and safe surroundings for combat-zone duty. As women war correspondents, they brought to the battlefields of World War II a fresh optic, and reported back home what they witnessed with a new sensibility.
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Nonfiction Account of WW2 Female News Reporters
- By DHackney on 08-30-13
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Les Parisiennes
- How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died Under Nazi Occupation
- By: Anne Sebba
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Paris in the 1940s was a place of fear, power, aggression, courage, deprivation, and secrets. During the occupation, the swastika flew from the Eiffel Tower and danger lurked on every corner. While Parisian men were either fighting at the front or captured and forced to work in German factories, the women of Paris were left behind where they would come face to face with the German conquerors on a daily basis, as waitresses, shop assistants, or wives and mothers, increasingly desperate to find food to feed their families as hunger became part of everyday life.
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An Excellent Historical Perspective
- By Lulu on 10-28-16
By: Anne Sebba
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Agent 110
- An American Spymaster and the German Resistance in WWII
- By: Scott Miller
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the secret and suspenseful account of how OSS spymaster Allen Dulles led a network of Germans conspiring to assassinate Hitler and negotiate surrender to bring about the end of World War II before the Soviet's advance. Agent 110 is Allen Dulles, a newly minted spy from an eminent family. Dulles met with and facilitated the plots of Germans who were trying to destroy the country's leadership.
By: Scott Miller
What listeners say about The Hotel on Place Vendome
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Living the Life
- 09-19-23
What a cast of characters
This book was recommended to our book club by a long time member who sadly passed, before we read it. She was originally from Germany but moved to the U.S. as a teenager in 50’s. It was so interesting reading the book with Brigitte’s background in mind.
I found the vignettes fascinating about the amazingly number of famous people that lived there either full or part-time. Their relationship with Nazi leaders staying there was so difficult to comprehend as well as the fact that even in the midst of occupation there were wealthy people acting as if their privilege was all that mattered.
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- B. Wolfe
- 06-03-23
Well Researched. Engaging Narration.
As I am finding Ms Mazzeo’s writing, this book is well researched and presented in an intriguing manner.
Ms Wiley does an exceptional job of bringing its voices to life.
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- Adayam mirsky
- 10-05-24
Very absorbing
Although it’s a documentary book . The telling is so fluent and the events so exciting that you cannot put the book down. The narratress is excellent.
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- Beth Finan
- 05-13-23
Dry, dry. Dry as a bone
The story became somewhat interesting about 3/4 of the way in. Just to gossipy and slow for my taste. I did learn a few tidbits of information towards the end, but not enough to justify the 8 hours I invested in this loser.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Joan Corbett
- 05-30-18
Name Dropping book- Don't waste your time!
The whole book is just a long list of names of artists, authors and famous people of that time who stayed at this hotel in Paris. Save your time and money and just read about Coco Chanel, Picasso, Gaugin, Man Ray, Hemingway, and others elsewhere it will be much more interesting and memorable than this Boring list. Monuments Men has a similar idea but presented much better.
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- JAS
- 02-17-19
Title doesn’t represent
The story was stuck far too long with WWII. It would progress forward and continually move backwards in time.
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2 people found this helpful