Paris Under Water

November 9, 2009
As the primary conduit for goods and people, the Seine helped turn Paris into a thriving commercial center. But the river also brought destruction and death through periodic winter flooding. Important efforts were made in the 19th century to regulate the river, but a key proposal to raise the level of the quay walls was botched. By the second week of 1910, water from rising rivers washed through and wreaked havoc on villages upriver from Paris. By January 22, Parisians were forced out of homes; the river and the warehouse district of Bercy was particularly devastated and with it the city’s precious wine supply. Water from the Seine was carried by the Métro into other areas on the right bank, but Parisians rallied. They established wooden walkways while soldiers rescued people from the water and prevented looting without occupying the city. Enlivened by period photographs of a flooded Paris, this is a capable, well-researched history of a modern city’s battle with nature, but Rhodes College history professor Jackson’s attempts to make connections with recent events like Katrina or the suburban Paris riots are tepid. 17 b&w photos.

October 15, 2009
A capable layman's history of the Paris flood of 1910.

The flood precipitated an outpouring of relief and general cooperation by the inhabitants, and the fairly predictable and successful outcome—the city quickly got back on its feet in a few months—robs the elegant narrative of any shattering denouement. The city's reaction to the flood, however, functioned as a"dress rehearsal" for World War I, and Jackson wisely keeps this in mind as he threads the elements of gravitas throughout his tale. The rising water levels of the three major rivers around Paris—the Marne, Yonne and Seine—began to converge on Paris by mid-January, due perhaps to unusual warming, elevated levels of rainfall and deforestation. The outlying suburbs were submerged by Jan. 24. People began to measure the terrifying progress of the Seine by its height on the statues of the bridges. Due largely to the dictates of the tireless, dedicated prefecture of police, Louis Lpine, the military activated relief efforts, rescuing people on requisitioned boats, piling sandbags along the quays, constructing passerelles ("a complicated system of wooden walkways and footbridges"), housing victims in schools and churches and remaining vigilant for looting. Charitable organizations took charge, especially the Red Cross, and U.S. President Taft, head of the American Red Cross, offered aid. Jackson adds an effective human-interest touch by extracting entries from diaries and letters by eyewitnesses, such as American writer Helen Davenport Gibbons and French poet Guillaume Apollinaire. Thanks to the Parisian solidarity across class lines, the city did not have to resort to martial law, and disease remained at bay. The author includes the post-flood debate about nature vs. science, and finds useful comparison in recent crises such as Hurricane Katrina.

A spirited look at the Parisian move into"Syst'me D"—crisis mode.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 15, 2009
In an engrossing narrative, Jackson (history & environmental studies, Rhodes Coll., Memphis) presents the epic story of an obscure event in French history: the great flood of Paris about 100 years ago. Using archival sources and postcards from the time, Jackson describes the physical ravages of the Seine's raging waters, but, more important, he places the disaster within a political, cultural, and social context that both scholars and general readers will understand. A city that had for decades been riddled by political, social, and religious divisions was somehow able to pull together during and after the crisis to regroup and rebuild. Jackson's narrative is enriched by some final musings on contemporary problems affecting French society, as he uses the experience of the flood to ponder ways in which urban residents might reconnect to one another. VERDICT Jackson's efforts to view the flood multidimensionally, writing in a fashion that will especially interest those who remember the personal and political impact of Hurricane Katrina, recommend his book for specialists as well as readers of popular history. [Sarah Smith's "The Knowledge of Water", although the central part of a fictional trilogy, stands alone as a novel that takes place in Paris during the flood.Ed.]Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ

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