Review
In his new book...Higonnet looks back, to a time when the city was, arguably, the capital of it all...Higonnet's discussions of Paris as a city of revolution, or of the social alienation modernity brought to Parisians...are compelling. Such historical depth gives weight to the experience of anyone drawn to modern Paris, once or a dozen times. (Tom Haines Boston Globe 2002-09-01)
Original and illuminating...Higonnet draws a fresh social, cultural and political portrait of Paris from the mid-18th century through the 19th century, augmented by some looks back and forward. Higonnet manages to be both intensely intellectual and deftly vivid as he escorts readers through a very wide range of reading...[He] appears to have missed nothing that touched or was touched by Paris...In passing, his eye takes in clothes, gastronomy, street names and panoramas...In a remarkably readable translation, [Higonnet] achieves a seamless synthesis between the myth and the history of modern Paris. (Publishers Weekly 2002-09-09)
This is a complex work of cultural and intellectual history...Higonnet has drawn from a vast array of sources to produce an "urban biography" of Paris from the mid-18th century to World War II. The result is not a standard chronological and political narrative but a history of how the city has been seen, remembered, conceived, and visualized. (Marie Marmo Mullaney Library Journal 2002-09-15)
This beautifully produced study of Paris--elegant layout, many illustrations--adopts a "mythic" approach to the city's tumultuous, many-faceted past...[This] is the kind of history of Paris we might expect from a Roland Barthes (cf. Mythologiques) or Walter Benjamin (cf. The Arcades Project). If this prospect excites you, here is your book. (Michael Dirda Washington Post 2002-11-10)
Unobtrusively learned master of ceremonies, [Higonnet] draws on a vast knowledge of the culture and history of the 19th century. He misses very little: gastronomy and cafes, Haussman's urban facelift, museums and stations, the Parisienne, "le tout Paris", modernism and its enemies...Higonnet's high-octane thesis of an "inauthentic" but powerful mythic residue is seductive. (David Coward Independent Magazine 2002-12-21)
Higonnet's [book], with its cream-and-blue cloth binding, wide margins, elegant typeface and generous illustrations, has a clear edge in belle époque opulence. Higonnet's intention is to explore the myths of Paris. He focuses on well over a dozen familiar and less familiar themes--including revolution, crime, the self, la parisienne, literature, art, alienation and pleasure--that compose the city's heady mythic cocktail. His wide learning is worn lightly, and his technique is a pointilliste application of quotations, incidents and images. (Robert Tombs Times Literary Supplement 2002-11-22)
Already known for his incisive books on eighteenth-century France and the French Revolution, Higonnet will now be celebrated as the author of a beautifully produced work on the Paris of a century ago....All Francophiles will be enriched by this book and grateful to both the author and his perfect translator. A rich and intelligent tour of Paris by an erudite guide with an acerbic, playful mind and a passionate heart. (Stanley Hoffman Foreign Affairs 2003-03-01)
Review
Higonnet is as informed an observer of the Parisian scene as is to be encountered on either side of the Atlantic. He writes with exceptional grace, and his story has shape, sweep, and sparkle. Readers who want the Paris they adore will not come away disappointed. Scholars who think they know about the city will find surprises and unexpected delights. (Philip Nord, Princeton University)
About the Author
Patrice Higonnet is Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History, Harvard University.
Arthur Goldhammer received the French-American Translation Prize in 1990 for his translation of A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution.
