When France fell to the Germans in June 1940, the legendary Hôtel Ritz on the Place Vendôme was the only luxury hotel of its kind allowed in the occupied city by order of Adolf Hitler. The Hôtel was simultaneously headquarters to the highest-ranking German officers, such as Reichsmarshal Hermann GÜring, and home to exclusive patrons, including Coco Chanel. Tilar J. Mazzeo traces the history of this cultural landmark and reveals a hotbed of illicit affairs and deadly intrigue, as well as acts of defiance and treachery.

The Hôtel Ritz, the mirror of Paris -- This Switzerland in Paris : June 1940 -- All the talk of Paris : June 1, 1898 -- Dogfight above the Place Vendôme : July 27, 1917 -- Diamonds as big as the Ritz : September 1, 1940 -- The Americans drifting to Paris : 1944 -- The French actress and her Nazi lover -- The Jewish bartender and the German Resistance -- The American wife and the Swiss director -- The German general and the fate of Paris -- The press corps and the race to Paris -- Ernest Hemingway and the Ritz liberated -- Those dame reporters : August 26, 1944 -- The last trains from Paris -- Coco's war and other dirty linen -- The blond bombshell and the nuclear scientists -- From Berlin with love and last battles in Paris : 1945 -- Waning powers in Paris : June 1951 -- The war's long shadow : May 29, 169.