Paris, City of Dreams - by Mary McAuliffe (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Armchair historians in particular will appreciate McAuliffe's readable yet detailed history supplemented with illustrations and bibliography." Booklist, Starred Review - This book traces the profound transformation of the City of Light during Napoléon III's Second Empire, as ...

Book Synopsis

"Armchair historians in particular will appreciate McAuliffe's readable yet detailed history supplemented with illustrations and bibliography." Booklist, Starred Review - This book traces the profound transformation of the City of Light during Napoléon III's Second Empire, as he and Georges Haussmann completely rebuilt Paris in less than two decades.

Review Quotes

[A] wonderful and fascinating book. . . . Acclaimed historian Mary McAuliffe vividly recaptures the Paris of Napoleon III, Claude Monet, and Victor Hugo as Georges Haussmann tore down and rebuilt Paris into the beautiful City of Light we know today. . . . Napoleon III, whose reign abruptly ended after he led France into a devastating war against Germany, has been forgotten. But the Paris that he created has endured, brought to vivid life through McAuliffersquo;s rich illustrations and evocative narrative.

A brilliant social historian.

As the worldrsquo;s most magical city, Paris was created over the centuries by kings, emperors, and presidents, but, as Mary McAuliffe so magisterially reveals in Paris, City of Dreams, no one played a greater role in the modern configuration of this wondrous city than Louis-Napoleon and his chief urban advisor, Baron Georges Haussmann. Reading this masterful account, one realizes how Napoleon III and Haussmann transformed a city of narrow lanes, insalubrious dwellings, and staggering pestilence into a triumph of vital sanitation and unparalleled beauty, creating the broad boulevards and architectural masterpieces so universally admired.

Her reputation as a social and literary historian of Paris already cemented, McAuliffe returns with a detailed history of the City of Light and its nineteenth-century transformation into the sophisticated, envied capital. Its wide boulevards, monumental architecture, health-improving sewers and aqueducts, and efficient transportation systems began in earnest in the 1850rsquo;s under Napoleon III and his chief urban planner, Georges-Eugegrave;ne Haussmann. Before becoming Emperor, Louis Napoleon in his London exile already had formulated plans for extending broad avenues west of the Louvre. With Haussmannrsquo;s skills at planning and at creating political will to action, the new Emperor created substantial parks on the cityrsquo;s outskirts and built conveniently situated train stations for the novel technology of rail travel. Razing tenements and codifying design for new apartment buildings, Haussmann constructed the cityscapes of Paris so beloved in the twentieth century. Urban elegance came at the cost of democratic rule as the former republic hardened into autocracy. Armchair historians in particular will appreciate McAuliffersquo;s readable yet detailed history supplemented with illustrations and bibliography.

If you want to know how Paris came to look as it does, read this book! Mary McAuliffe has written a thoroughly entertaining account of the politics and business behind Haussmannrsquo;s famous boulevards. Weaving the lives of artists and writers into the tale of the cityrsquo;s transformation, Paris, City of Dreams is also a well-informed history of Francersquo;s Second Empire and its inglorious end.

McAuliffe has an eye for the evocative, using quotesmdash;and salacious detailsmdash;to bring [Paris] to life.

McAuliffersquo;s knowledge of and enthusiasm for this time is evident on every page.

On the surface Dr. McAuliffe, the author of several books on the history of Paris, gives us an interesting account of the redesign and reconstruction of the ldquo;City of Lightrdquo; by Baron Hausmann during the Second French Empire. But beyond that, she also offers an excellent overview of ndash; or perhaps introduction to ndash; France in the era of Louis Napoleon, from the formation of the Second Republic in 1848 through the collapse of the Second Empire and creation of the Third Republic in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune in 1870-1871. McAuliffe touches on government, politics, culture, society, art, theatre, literature, diplomacy, science, and more, including military policy and several wars.

Rich with the flavor of words taken from primary sources, [Mary McAuliffersquo;s books] provide an intimate look at the very human side of history.

The re-creation of Paris from a medieval urban maze to the city of lights and boulevards comes to life in Mary McAuliffersquo;s historical exposeacute; . . . an enlightening and overwhelming story of a tumultuous and transformative Parisian period.

About the Author

Mary McAuliffe holds a PhD in history from the University of Maryland, has taught at several universities, and has lectured at the Smithsonian Institution, the Barnes Foundation, and the Frick Pittsburgh. She has traveled extensively in France, and for many years she was a regular contributor to Paris Notes. Her books include Clash of Crowns, Dawn of the Belle Epoque, Twilight of the Belle Epoque, When Paris Sizzled, and Paris on the Brink. She lives in New York City with her husband.