Paris, City of Dreams

Starred review from April 1, 2020
Her reputation as a social and literary historian of Paris already cemented, McAuliffe (Paris on the Brink, 2018; When Paris Sizzled, 2016) 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 1850's under Napoleon III and his chief urban planner, Georges-Eug�ne Haussmann. Before becoming Emperor, Louis Napoleon in his London exile already had formulated plans for extending broad avenues west of the Louvre. With Haussmann's skills at planning and at creating political will to action, the new Emperor created substantial parks on the city'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 McAuliffe's readable yet detailed history supplemented with illustrations and bibliography.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)