This Week on History Happy Hour: Eighty years ago, The Allies liberated Paris. It was the biggest party of the century, as experienced by the likes of Ernest Hemingway, J. D. Salinger, Pablo Picasso, and Robert Capa. But there was nothing preordained about this happy ending. Had things transpired differently, Paris might have gone down as a ghastly monument to Nazi nihilism.

We welcome back HHH alum Patrick Bishop to talk about his new book Paris 1944: Occupation, Resistance, Liberation: A Social History.

Patrick Bishop spent twenty-five years as a foreign correspondent covering conflicts around the world. He is the author of Operation Jubilee: Dieppe 1944, as well as two hugely acclaimed books about the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, Fighter Boys and Bomber Boys. His other books include Wings, a history of the RAF; and Air Force Blue, which celebrated 100 years of the RAF and was a Sunday Times (UK) bestseller. This is his second time on History Happy Hour.