Seven Ages of Paris (Pb): Portrait of a City [Paperback]

In the past few years we've had a massive biography of New York City ("Gotham") and several only slightly less massive biographies of London (by Peter Ackroyd, Stephen Inwood, etc.). Alistair Horne, an Englishman who has spent most of his life writing about France, rightly decided that it's about time that we gave equal time to the City Of Light. He has written a very good book. If you don't know much about France and the French, Mr. Horne's book covers so many different areas that it is sure to whet your appetite to learn more. Even if you're a longtime Francophile, the author has dug so deeply into his sources that you're bound to be delighted and/or surprised at many of the tidbits he's unearthed. For example, during the siege of Paris in the autumn of 1870, the Parisians were able to communicate with the rest of France by successfully sending out balloons. But the balloons were never able to make it back in to Paris.,And while many people know that the siege reduced Parisians to having to eat horses, dogs, cats, rats and even animals from the zoo...where else could you find out that it's estimated that during the siege the Parisians consumed 65,000 horses, 5,000 cats, 1,200 dogs...but only 300 rats! Depending on your interests (or the strength of your stomach) this is either fascinating or perhaps a bit TOO much information! Mr. Horne tries to let you sample various aspects of Parisian life. So, in each "Age" he tries to tell you what was going on in certain core areas: politics, architecture, relations between the sexes, culture (music, dance, theater, art, literature), etc. Heavyweight material (Louis XIV's Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the Paris Commune, collaboration during WWII) is beautifully and seamlessly blended with lighter fare- such as the 1809 inventory of Josephine's wardrobe, which found 666 winter dresses, 230 summer dresses but only 2 pairs of knickers! We learn that King Louis-Philippe kept 2 pairs of gloves "on hand"- a special, dirty, pair for shaking the hands of the "common people" and a cleaner kid glove pair for use with old aristocrats, bankers, etc. In the world of dance, we are told of the moral outrage expressed when, during the 1912 season, Nijinsky decided to perform in "Afternoon Of A Faun" in a manner that some people felt was not quite appropriate. (He went onstage "sans cup".) Mr. Horne wears his likes and dislikes on his sleeve: He clearly dislikes Louis XIV and admires Charles de Gaulle, for example. (But, he has a wonderful sense of humor and can't resist telling us that Jean-Paul Sartre used to call de Gaulle "Charles XI"!) Mr. Horne makes it clear that this is a "personal" history rather than a scholarly history. Can't say fairer than that.....at least we know the groundrules right from the start. The reason I decided to give this book only 4 stars rather than 5 is that, if anything, Mr. Horne was not quite ambitious enough in his undertaking. Granted, 477 pages is not a short book....but it isn't long enough for a subject such as this. You feel a bit "rushed" in the first 3 "Ages", as approximately 600 years of history are compressed into 150 pages. And, for all intents and purposes, the Revolution of 1789 is ignored! The book doesn't hit it's stride until Napoleon struts onto the scene. The past 200 years are covered in 300 pages, and the pace for this period seems more leisurely and appropriate. After all, we want to do full justice to such a rich, complex story. To finish with a quote from "Charles XI": "How can you govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese!"

An interesting and engaging book about the history of the city Paris which the author has divided in seven distinct ages.The author of the book Alistair Horne has written the book in a way that is accesible and easy to read.

I recommend this book as an introduction to French history and anybody who is need of a good read.

France, I learned in school geography, is a country with a high degree of primacy - one in which one city is considerably larger than any other, and tends to dominate. The history of Paris, then, has often been the history of France: at certain key stages of the Revolution, for instance, the course of national history was directly affected by the Paris populace taking to their streets.

For this book Alistair Horne takes his structure largely from national political events, the different rulers who have presided from Paris (or not: Louis XIV's abandonment of Paris for Versailles, and the government's departure in 1870, both had long-term political implications) and accordingly national and city history are largely elided. He makes no bones about focussing on seven periods that particularly interest him and covering the periods between more sketchily: this is particularly noteworthy at the start, as the book effectively starts with Philippe-Auguste in the late twelfth century and dispatches Romans, Merovignians, Charlemagne and his descendents and the early Capetians all before we reach page 20. Its coverage takes us basically up to the departure of de Gaulle, too, so aspects of modern Paris such as the multi-racial banlieu or the twin swathes of new towns north and south of the city are not touched.

It is not, then, an exhaustive history, and not one slanted towards urban geography and detailed exposition of how the city developed structurally - in each section, Horne covers major building works, but these take a back seat to political and cultural events. Horne writes as someone with a long association with France, with Paris, and with the intellectuals and politicians of several decades. It is more of a love letter to the city and its history - sometimes, too, a poison-pen letter, since Horne has no qualms about showing his dislikes (he is enjoyably catty about Sartre). For a more detailed history of the city proper, which takes in urban geography, the street-level view and the eras that Horne omits, I would recommend Colin Jones's "Paris: Biography of a City" and if I had to choose only one I would go for Jones: but best of all is not to have to choose, and to get both. This is an enjoyable, well-written look at Paris and the events that it has hosted through the ages, and is recommended for anyone about to visit, wanting to reminisce about visiting, or just interested in France and its history.