The Paris Herald

Any American traveling in the world today will come across the Paris Herald somewhere, though it now goes under the name the International New York Times. Never mind, at heart it is still the Paris Herald and traces its roots to Paris at the beginning of the 20th Century when it was as familiar in the kiosks of the Left Bank and the Champs Elysees as the latest article in l'Aurore by Zola or newest installment by Proust in his never ending search for lost time. The Paris Herald, narrative historical fiction, tells the story of the world's most famous newspaper, focusing on the key years of the 1960s, when the fates of the newspaper and of the regime of Charles de Gaulle became curiously intertwined. The story centers on intrigue and rivalry among the New York Herald Tribune, New York Times and Washington Post. When the Herald Tribune ceased operations in New York in 1966, the Times, which had started its own European Edition in 1960, expected the Paris Herald to close, too, giving the Times victory in Paris as well as New York. But Herald Tribuneowner Jock Whitney wouldn't sell to the Times, preferring to join with Katharine Graham, who'd taken charge at the Post after her husband's death. Within months, the Times came, hat-in-hand, offering to close its European edition and asking to buy into the new Herald/Post partnership. The Times neither forgave nor forgot its humiliation. The Paris Herald is the story of many people: of Frank Draper, who fought in the Lincoln Brigade; Byron Hallsberg, who joined the Hungarian uprising; Dennis Klein, researching the Nazi occupation of Paris; Suzy de Granville, searching for family roots; Wayne Murray, escaping homophobia; of Steve and Molly Fleming, living the high life; Sonny Stein and Al Lodge and Connie Marshall and Ben Swart and Eddie Jones, paperboy, all finding themselves at the Paris Herald for their own reasons and ending up in the fight to keep the newspaper alive. The 1960s was a tumultuous decade. The conflict in America over race and the Vietnam War spread to Europe, setting off terrorism, riots and revolt across the continent and threatening already shaky regimes. Nowhere was the risk of collapse greater than in France, where the...