Eiffel's Tower

Jill Jonnes's account of the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889 somewhat resembles Erik Larson's account of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 as described in THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY (only Jonnes's book has no mass murderer). It focuses on the Eiffel Tower. Through the run-up to and the glory days of the Paris Exposition the scenes shift from Gustav Eiffel and his tower to Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley, James Gordon Bennett of the Paris Edition of the NEW YORK HERALD, Thomas Edison, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh--then back again (and again). Many of the stories are quite wonderful. Paul Hecht's deep baritone rolls along smoothly without distracting the listener from the stories he tells. F.C. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine