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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | From the Roman Emperor Julian, who waxed rhapsodic about Parisian wine and figs, to Henry Miller, who relished its seductive bohemia, Paris has been a perennial source of fascination for 2,000 years. In this definitive and illuminating history, Colin Jones walks us through the city that was a plague-infested charnel house during the Middle Ages, the bloody epicenter of the French Revolution, the muse of nineteenth-century Impressionist painters, and much more. Jones’s masterful narrative is enhanced by numerous photographs and feature boxes—on the Bastille or Josephine Baker, for instance—that complete a colorful and comprehensive portrait of a place that has endured Vikings, Black Death, and the Nazis to emerge as the heart of a resurgent Europe. This is a thrilling companion for history buffs and backpack, or armchair, travelers alike.
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Colin Jones | | Paperback: | 592 pages | | Publisher: | Penguin (Non-Classics) | | Publication Date: | April 04, 2006 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0143036718 | | Product Width: | 138.5 centimeters | | Product Height: | 210.0 centimeters | | Product Weight: | 1.13 pounds | | Package Length: | 8.2 inches | | Package Width: | 5.4 inches | | Package Height: | 1.5 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.0 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 9 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 9 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 18 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent History of Paris, But Keep a Map Handy! Oct 03, 2005
By denverd0n
This is a very good history of Paris. It is well-written and keeps you engaged throughout. It's not the sort of history that you have to force yourself to keep reading. If you have any interest at all in Paris you will enjoy reading this very much.
One of the techniques he uses, that I really enjoyed, is that he includes highlighted sections where he steps out of the strictly chronological description of what happened when and goes into a deeper description of a particular place, building, or incident. This breaks up the book just enough to keep it from getting tedious, and fills in details just when you want them.
The only complaint that I have is that he is very sketchy on details of what was going on in the rest of the world. Of course, this is a history of Paris, so how much time should he really spend on what was happening elsewhere? Still, it would have been useful to have a little more context; just enough to be better able to place the significant events in Paris with what was happening at the same time in the rest of the world.
Another comment (not a complaint, really), is that I found it absolutely necessary to have an overview map of Paris handy while I was reading. He seems to assume a fair degree of familiarity with the layout of the city. In particular, he frequently describes where something is only by mentioning which Arrondisment it's in, or what major cross streets are nearby. If you know Paris well enough to place things this way, more power to you. I don't, so I found myself frequently referring to a map.
But these are minor criticisms. Overall, this book is excellent and more than worth the cover price for anyone with any interest in Paris.
19 of 25 found the following review helpful:
City Streets Oct 01, 2005
By Christian Schlect
This is a workmanlike one-volume history of Paris, covering about one thousand years. I would especially recommend it for people deeply interested in urban architecture and city planning given that Professor Jones spends much effort detailing the changing nature and design of the streets and buildings of Paris. Most general readers will find this none too exciting. Those wanting to learn about a specific historical incident, for example the Commune of 1871, will likely read about it in this volume but should just buy one of the many good books that there are sure to be on that given incident. A nice aspect of the book are the many feature boxes that tell interesting tales related to the City of Light that would not fit into the author's general narrative. For the reader who wants a flavor of Paris without the sometimes numbing detail provided by this book, please consider Edmund White's The Flaneur and Alistair Horne's The Seven Ages of Paris.
10 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 Terrible organization and lazy execution May 31, 2006
By s
This book is terribly organized. I'm not sure what happened in writing this book, but it seems clear that Professor Jones did not compile this in the chronological order that it is printed in.
My main complaint is that rather obscure concepts/people/events are repeatedly referred to, and then only later does Jones bother to define them. (I would almost prefer that he not define something at all, rather than offering a definition 100 pages after his first reference to it!) The fact that the book has an index only further infuriated me - clearly the author/publisher knew where all these terms were located throughout the book, yet did not bother to offer a definition in the appropriate/first reference to the concept.
Examples are numerous, but here are a few:
**robe nobility: referenced on pages 139, 152, 183. Defined? (pg. 183)
**sans culottes: first referenced on page 189, defined on page 231.
**Louis-Sebastien Mercier: referenced on pages 11, 138, 178, 189, 200, 204, 212, 213. When did Jones provide information (that he was a "journalist, dramatist and observer of Parisian mores") on just WHO Mercier is? Page 215.
Aside from that, there are some plain old errors. One such is in the text box on Saint Genevieve. Jones mentions that she negotiated with Frankish military chieftains in the 570s and 580s. She died in 512AD, so the negotiations seem improbable. (470s & 480s would be correct, but I should not have to figure that out.)
The redeeming quality of the book is that if DOES offer information on Paris if you are willing to sift through the above mentioned annoyances. And Paris is not such a bad subject.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Paris: the very dry and very long growth chart of a city May 29, 2007
By Sam Glover
I understand now that the "biography of a city" genre means, literally, what happened to the city in question throughout its existence. This does not mean the reader will get a historical survey of events within the city. It means the reader will get a more-or-less chronological account of building programs, road building, and changes in sewage infrastructure.
In short: dry reading.
I bought Paris: The Biography of a City on the eve of my trip to Paris, thinking a history of Paris would give me a sense of context. However, history involves people and events. Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed by what I got, and instead read John Roberts's excellent book, The French Revolution. But driven by an obsession with finishing every book I start, I finished reading this book on my return to the U.S.
Taken for what it is, this book is a decent and apparently accurate catalog of Paris's growth since its early years. However, Jones merely mentions in passing major events like the St. Bartholomew's massacre and Napoleon III's coup d'etat, and people like Robespierre and Napoleon Bonaparte, as if the reader already knew all about them.
A city without people is not a city. Likewise, a biography of a city that goes into almost no detail about the people who lived in that city through the ages is hardly a biography. Or at least, hardly a biography worth reading.
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Decent try but could have used more focus Dec 15, 2007
By Lehigh History Student
This books greatest strength and weakness is that it is one of the most thorough overviews on the city of Paris history that has been written yet. Unlike many it goes into wonderful detail on the early years of Paris and the build up on the Isle de cite. One of the other drawbacks is that the maps of Paris in the back are just okay but if you have a Paris travel book with good maps you will be better served for following the authors descriptions. The downside to the detail is that you can get bogged down very easily and lose the authors main point with all of the detail. The book tends to glaze over the post world war II era and I would have liked more explanation of the reconstruction efforts.
Overall it was an excellent summary of Parisian history and put Paris in the context of the entire country. There are many books like this that offer the biography of the city and I would put this one in the middle of those. It is hard to have a very strong opinion of this book since it was neither amazing nor terrible. For those looking to learn some more about the history of the city or those who want another perspective on French history it is probably worth a read but for the general consumer on European history it is probably worth a pass.
See all 9 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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