Chapter 1: Stumble across book that is *exactly* what you had been hoping someone would write. Order book through Interlibrary loan.Chapter 2: Get book at library. Undergraduate students whisper, mockingly, as they walk past the middle-aged man standing on lawn, reading obscure book, in French, detailing life and times of Pierre Boisson, governor general of French West Africa during the Vichy period.
Chapter 3: Have to go back to work telling undergraduate students that they cannot be exempted from certain requirements. Not revenge, exactly, but do not feel empathy. Wait all day, patiently, until kids are asleep. Immediately pull out book, read (OK, skim) all the way through. Fascinating.
Chapter 4: Sigh. The book was great, but didn't have what I really needed. Hats off to historian Pierre Ramognino for working through the archives. Maybe need to go to Aix en Provence myself to look through archives. There are worse fates.
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