Here in Act 5 of "A Privileged Past," the author turns to his and his wife’s life overseas in France and Germany. Their dual national identities as Americans living abroad for extended periods of time underscore the dramatic changes in social conditions in Europe since 1945 as it regained its place in world affairs after World War II. Because so much of life in Europe is dependent upon second-language acquisition, the primary literary figure in this chapter is sound and its many cultural resonances.