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"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.
About the author
Mary McAuliffe received a Ph.D. in history from the University of Maryland and has taught at several universities and lectured at the Smithsonian Institution. For many years she was a regular contributor to Paris Notes. She has traveled extensively in France and is the author of Dawn of the Belle Epoque: The Paris of Monet, Zola, Bernhardt, Eiffel, Debussy, Clemenceau, and Their Friends. She lives in New York City with her husband.
Summary
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. Their breathtaking—and brutal—achievement was mirrored by dramatic social, cultural, and political changes, all brought to life through McAuliffe’s evocative narrative.
Additional text
As the world’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.
