Hansen has given us a gift. His investigation into the haunts and habits of American writers and their circle in 1920's Paris is brilliant. Read the book and understand, in part, much of what they lived and how it manifests in their work. This is worth reading for myriad reasons. It is a romance, an adventure, an exploration.

The late Arlen Hansen was a legendery professor at the University of the Pacific, and a professor of mine. He taught a course on expatriate Paris in the 20's, and his passion for his subject comes through on every page of this book. I copied down information from this book for a recent trip to Paris, and without it I never would have found the apartment building in which Zelda Fitzgerald jammed the elevator on her and Scott's floor so that it would always be waiting for them (to the dismay of the manager). Such tid bits of delicious trivia abound on every page, and I highly recommend this book, especially if you are a fan of the literary 20's, and are planning on a trip to Paris in the future.

The subject matter sounded wonderful, and I was hooked for awhile. However, I was a bit disappointed that most of the book was dedicated to the bureaucratic dealings of the various services,the countries they were supporting, and the various armies they were attached to. I had been hoping for more information about actual patient care and how the ambulance services impacted that. There was a huge amount of detail on the vehicles used as ambulances. The discussion about the public view of the ambulance service as well as joining the war was good.

I happened upon this book while doing internet research on my great-greand uncle, Richard Norton. Having very little idea of the depth of his involvement with the ambulance corps during WWI, I was much surprised to stumble upon this book, and more pleasantly surprised to find myself reading about other things that previously held no interest for me. The lives of the drivers, the founding of the ambulance corps, even the care of the cars is all covered in a way that drew me in and kept me turning the pages. A pleasant surprise, and a book I'm proud to add to my collection.

This is the first work on the volunteer services(ambulance) since the 1920's, that has explained this very complex story. The early days of organization to the days when the federal government took over the role of direction. The little known "attached" service and the names of many of America's literary people. It is unfair to list Hemingway as the book deals with volunteers in the ambulance service and Hemingway was with the Italian service. This work does not detail that front. Of note is the fact that the Norton-Harjes and American Volunteer Ambulance Service is covered. There is no other source for this information.