Mary Roberts - What Soldiers Do

“This clear-eyed examination of what randy American soldiers got up to in France from D-Day through 1946 strips away the sentimentality from the overworked, clichéd portrayal of the Greatest Generation.”

“Carefully, keeping her anger in check, and with wit, deep research, and telling vignettes, Mary Louise Roberts has given us a masterful study of sexual transactions between American GIs and French women in the Second World War…. In excavating and analyzing the story, Roberts is superb—asking the right questions, digging for answers, scrupulously considering all possibilities, and openly admitting the unknowns…. Roberts’s book is an extremely important contribution to a matter badly neglected, even among anti-war scholars.”

“A remarkable study that complicates the view of the liberation of France and casts doubt on the moral character of the vaunted ‘greatest generation’ of Americans. She vividly depicts the impact of the influx of hundreds of thousands of GIS on French society, especially on French women…. A powerful reminder of the dark side of the liberation.”

“Throughout this book the links between sex, the body, national and transnational politics are made plain. While some readers may query the argument that the behaviour of GIs can be conceptualised as the ‘growing pains’ of a nation moving into world leadership, many will appreciate this nuanced history of sex, war and power. The sexual behaviour of an army, and the sexual abuse it propagates, are to do with more than the personal choices of select individuals. Looking beyond ‘a few bad hats’, as British Army officers are wont to say of abusers, is instructive, not just for a deeper understanding of the complex liberation of France but also of the broader links between military power, sexual dominance and gender relations.”

The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637

The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London

© 2013 by The University of Chicago

All rights reserved. Published 2013.

Printed in the United States of America

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ISBN-13: 978-0-226-92309-3 (cloth)

ISBN-13: 978-0-226-92312-3 (e-book)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Roberts, Mary Louise.

What soldiers do : sex and the American GI in World War II France /

Mary Louise Roberts.

pages. cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-226-92309-3 (cloth: alkaline paper) — ISBN 978-0-226-92312-3 (e-book)

1. United States. Army—Officers—Sexual behavior—France—History—20th century. 2. Soldiers—Sexual behavior—Political aspects—United States. 3. Sex—Military aspects—France—History—20th century. 4. World War, 1939–1945—France—History. 5. World War, 1939–1945—United States—History. 6. Soldiers—United States—Attitudes. 7. Sex—France. 8. United States—Foreign relations—France—History—20th century. 9. France—Foreign relations—United States—History—20th century. I. Title.

D769.8.S6R63 2013

940.53’1—dc23

2012033963

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).