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Paris: The Secret History
 
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Paris: The Secret History (Hardcover)

by Andrew Hussey (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Price: £25.00 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Paris: The Secret History + Paris: Biography of a City + Paris Tales: A Literary Tour of the City
Price For All Three: £40.56

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 512 pages
  • Publisher: Viking (6 Jul 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0670913642
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670913640
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 332,945 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Simon Sebag-Montefiore

‘Outrageously readable, impressively researched, shockingly violent alternative history of Paris . . . A fascinating riot of a book’


David Starkey

‘Fascinating . . . A vivid sans-culottes history, from the street up. Hussey reveals the City of Light’s myriad dark secrets’
See all Product Description

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Paris: The Secret History
63% buy the item featured on this page:
Paris: The Secret History 3.3 out of 5 stars (3)
£25.00
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Paris: The Secret History - Andrew Hussey, 20 Dec 2007
By Jonathan Birch (Manchester) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Paris: The Secret History (Paperback)
In short, this a 'Horrible History' for adults. It is not history in the academic sense. It's more like biography, and owes much to Peter Ackroyd's biography of London. Hussey doesn't deal in causes, trends or ideas; his currency is anecdotes. This a big book of gory and sexy titbits from Parisian history, sorted into chronological order.

The subject matter should make for light reading, but somehow, despite the breakneck pace of the anecdotes, something goes wrong. The small print, long paragraphs, and dry, humourless prose drag the book down. Furthermore, I'm no expert on the history of Paris, but when I did know a little bit about a period I noticed factual inaccuracies. For example, Danton was with the Cordeliers Club (not the Jacobin Club), and there was only one Committee of Public Safety in the Revolution, not many.

For these reasons, this book arguably gives you less value than a Horrible History. Hussey has sacrificed depth for breathless narrative in the hope of reaching out to a wide audience, but the stream of details feels laboured and aimless. Unlike the city, 'Paris: The Secret History' fails to capture the imagination, and is barely more fun than reading academic history.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars not all it claims to be, 22 Mar 2009
By Robert Livingston "robert20661" (Kirkhill, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Paris: The Secret History (Paperback)
I found this a very disappointing book. There's little that's truly 'secret' about it, and not much historical method either. It reads like a journalist's book,full of vague, general assertions without hard references to back them up. Colin Jones' 'Paris', though a tougher read, covers the same ground with much greater detail and rigour. I came away wondering why the book had been written, when the author seems to dislike so much about Paris.
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great light read, 6 Feb 2008
By David C. Edwards "DCSE" (Chester, Great Britain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Paris: The Secret History (Paperback)
I took this to Paris on my last visit. It's not an academic read, nor does it set out to be one. This is a great light read highly entertaining, especially if you are intending visiting the city as it brings a perspective to this long established and highly entertaining metropolis.
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