Eye Prefer Paris Book of the Month, May 2021: Book Giveaway- Paris, City of Dreams

CORRECTION: Last Friday I posted that June 19 is when Americans will be able to visit France again, it's actually June 9. My apologies.

My friend gifted me this wonderful and fascinating book, Paris, City of Dreams: Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Creation of Paris, and I am passing it on to you. 

Acclaimed historian Mary McAuliffe vividly recaptures the Paris of Napoleon III, Claude Monet, and Victor Hugo as Georges Haussmann tore down and rebuilt Paris into the beautiful City of Light we know today.

Paris, City of Dreams traces the transformation of the City of Light during Napoleon III’s Second Empire into the beloved city of today. Together, Napoleon III and his right-hand man, Georges Haussmann, completely rebuilt Paris in less than two decades—a breathtaking achievement made possible not only by the emperor’s vision and Haussmann’s determination but by the regime’s unrelenting authoritarianism, augmented by the booming economy that Napoleon fostered.

Yet a number of Parisians refused to comply with the restrictions that censorship and entrenched institutional taste imposed. Mary McAuliffe follows the lives of artists such as Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Claude Monet, as well as writers such as Emile Zola, Gustave Flaubert, and the poet Charles Baudelaire, while from exile, Victor Hugo continued to fire literary broadsides at the emperor he detested.

McAuliffe brings to life a pivotal era encompassing not only the physical restructuring of Paris but also the innovative forms of banking and money-lending that financed industrialization as well as the city’s transformation. This in turn created new wealth and lavish excess, even while producing extreme poverty. More deeply, change was occurring in the way people looked at and understood the world around them, given the new ease of transportation and communication, the popularization of photography, and the emergence of what would soon be known as Impressionism in art and Naturalism and Realism in literature—artistic yearnings that would flower in the Belle Epoque.

Napoleon III, whose reign abruptly ended after he led France into a devastating war against Germany, has been forgotten. But the Paris that he created has endured, brought to vivid life through McAuliffe’s rich illustrations and evocative narrative.

The publisher of Paris, City of Dreams has generously agreed to give away a copy of to an Eye Prefer Paris reader in the continental USA.

Be the third person to make a comment about the book in my comments section and win your copy of the book.  Email subscribers, if you go to the bottom of this email, in small print it says “You are subscribed to email updates from I Prefer Paris”. Click on I Prefer Paris, and on the bottom of the post you will see COMMENT in small letters. Click on that to make a comment.

CLICK HERE to purchase Paris, City of Dreams: Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Creation of Paris

 In other book news, here’s an announcement for an upcoming book event. 

FRENCH ARTISTS IN FICTION: FOUR LIVES, FOUR AUTHORS

FREE ZOOM EVENT  MAY 8, 2021,  11 A.M. CENTRAL STANDARD TIME

WITH SERVING HOUSE AUTHOR 

LINDA LAPPIN,  LOVING MODIGLIANI: THE AFTERLIFE OF JEANNE HEBUTERNE

& Lilianne Milgrom, author of L’Origine

Drema Drudge, author of Victorine

Joe Byrd, author of  Monet & Oscar

ORGANIZED BY FRANCE BOOK TOURS

SIGN UP HERE:

https://francebooktours.com/2021/04/05/may-8-free-webinar-french-artists-in-fiction-four-lives-four-authors/

BOOKS AVAILABLE https://bookshop.org/lists/recommended-reads-french-art-in-fiction

INGRAMS, and Amazon. 

All four authors have generously agreed to give away an e-copy of their book, so the second, fourth, sixth, and eight person who makes a comment, will receive a copy of one of the books. 

Email subscribers, if you go to the bottom of this email, in small print it says “You are subscribed to email updates from I Prefer Paris”. Click on I Prefer Paris, and on the bottom of the post you will see COMMENT in small letters. Click on that to make a comment. 

Please join my friend Rosemary Flannery for her live Angels of Paris tour for France.fr, Wednesday, May 5, 10am EST (east coast time), 9am Midwest time, 7am, West coast time, and 4pm Paris time. CLICK HERE to sign-up. 

 

Comments

[Joanie Stewart]

Oooooh, I would love a copy of this book! The illustrations must be amazing, seeing the before during and after of construction. Fingers crossed. Thanks Richard.
Joanie Stewart
Alexandria, VA
[email protected]

[blair barnhart-hinkle]

Enjoy your posts every single day! Would love a copy of the book :)

[Jeanne Govert]

i hope you continue to post articles about books regarding Paris and France - I will continue to read them and love them@

[Catherine Jones]

Thanks Richard for keeping all of us up with your magical Paris!! I love seeing your email in my mailbox each day and look forward to "spending time" with you as I read. Miss you so much and hope to see you again soon. Your BFF, Catherine

[Rob Bertram]

Excellent post - thanks for the information!

[Cheryl Matzker]

I'd love to read any of these books!