Blackout (1939)
"All Through My Voyage to Europe, and in the Weeks that Followed, the Talk Was of War, Until in the End There Was War..."
Earle, Hubert P. Blackout. The Human Side of Europe's March to War. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1939.
Octavo. Hardcover. 1st Edition.
First edition of this memoir by a Harvard student assigned to the United States Embassy in Paris just prior to the Second World War, who was entrusted with carrying diplomatic messages between Paris and Warsaw as well as helping scared Americans to get home. As a family friend of William C. Bullitt, the ambassador to France, Harvard student Hubert Earle had the unique opportunity to experience life in Europe during the two months prior to the outbreak of World War II. In his early days at the embassy, he watched as Britain prepared for war and as France struggled to hold its own borders against the German threat. Originally recruited as an intern investigating a career in the diplomatic services, Earle soon found himself coding and decoding diplomatic messages to take all over Europe. He was also assigned to be the official courier between Paris and Warsaw, which he visited just prior to the Soviet invasion. Earle also became involved with the military and its humanitarian outreach, helping Americans to escape from the continent before it was enveloped in war. Earle wrote this book both to share his adventures as well as to show the human struggle during wartime and the costs that were already accruing. He went on to serve in the Navy during World War II and then became a lawyer. This book--and his service to his European neighbors-- remained among his greatest accomplishments. Tiny bookseller ticket. Book fine, dust jacket extremely good with only light rubbing and a bit of shallow chipping to extremities affecting spine title.