Wine and War (Donald & Petie Kladstrup)

Fascinating read about the desperate position the French vineyard owners found themselves in during the Second World War. With Nazis determined to pillage the vineyards, the owners resorted to every trick possible to protect their assets. With experience of defeating phylloxera in the 19th century and the preceding world war, the vineyard owners had developed a knack of finding ways to survive. The book describes an eclectic collection of motives and actions that helped the wine industry survive occupation. A slight downside is the purely factual account of events. This creates a book that is somewhat disjointed in places, with little attempt to create a story that holds the piece together. Fascinating historical journalism, but more rhetoric may have added to the book.