"I Cannot Get Along without the Books I Find Here": The American Library in Paris during the War, Occupation, and Liberation, 1939-1945

The American Library in Paris remained open to readers throughout World War II, and its history during the darkest period of the occupation is a tribute to the leadership and courage of an American-born countess, Clara Longworth de Chambrun, and her small but dedicated staff. This article presents the drama as it unfolded—-through the phony war, the fall of Paris, and the bleak years following the American declaration of war on Germany. The concluding section offers a brief analysis of the American Library's unlikely survival and explores its complicated wartime history by using concepts borrowed from institutional sociology.