Robert Owen Paxton (born June 15, 1932) is an American political scientist and historian specializing in Vichy France, fascism, and Europe during the World War II era. He is Mellon Professor Emeritus of Social Science in the Department of History at Columbia University. He is best known for his 1972 book ''Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order'', which precipitated intense debate in France, and led to a paradigm shift in how the events of the Vichy regime are interpreted.
Provided by Wikipedia