This is a poorly written book about an extraordinary person. I'm very sorry to say this, because Varian Fry, for all his struggles with the leadership of his organization, Vichy authorities and police, and the U.S. State Department, still managed to save almost 2,000 civilian lives during WWII. These were people who would have been shot or sent up in smoke by the Nazis for being degenerate artists (such as Chagall and Miro), anti-fascists, or Jews.

His story is told here but it is told in such a tedious manner that if you aren't committed to the subject, you probably wouldn't make it to the end. A very sad end, as it turned out.

Fry captured my interest for the brave and effective work he did despite all odds and obstacles. Shame on the American government for getting in his way while he tried to save the lives of hundreds of scientists, writers, artists, Nobel prize winners, Jews and then blocking him from making a living when he was called back to the United States. There is another book out about him and I'm waiting for it to arrive so I can read it and see if someone did him a greater service by writing a readable account of his life. Varian Fry deserves five stars plus, but I can't go higher than three for this book. ( )