Book excerpt: At the turn of the thirteenth century, a tolerant, wealthy, and cultured society blossomed in what is now southwestern France. Occitania was the domain of the Counts of Toulouse. Its people valued poetry, music, and literature over warfare. Their language Occitan, was the lingua franca of the courts of Europe. Their troubadours traveled widely and were popular sources of news and entertainment. Tragically, their success struck fear in the minds of the pope and kings, so a brutal crusade was launched to destroy a people that sought only peace. Seven hundred years later, as the battles raged on the Normandy beaches, a sleepy little town in the Limousin woke up to what they expected to be like any other. But this day they were to have unwelcome visitors, the Waffen SS. The Chrysalis of Oc is a sweeping historical tale that links thirteenth and twentieth century France and the bloody crusades that changed the course of the world forever.