Seven Ages of Paris

I truly wish I was planning a trip to Paris sometime soon, as this is the perfect book to read before exploring that famous city. Rich in history, the author provides a compelling account of how Paris evolved over the centuries into the beautiful city of today. Going back to its ancient roots and delving to details like fashion, culture, and even its most famous cemetery, this is a great read on Paris and France as a nation.

This shouldn’t be the first book you read about the history of Paris. Horne name-checks so many people and places that it helps to know your way around already. Instead, the best use for this book is as an enjoyable, anecdotal refresher.
It’s a challenge to pack two thousand years of history between the covers of one book, even at 477 pages, and one that at times overwhelms Horne’s narrative skill. There is no doubt of his masterful erudition, but repetitions and nonsequiturs abound. Nor is Horne skillful in constructing paragraphs. Many are chunks of information without the shaping that helps the reader sense which are the main ideas and which the subordinate clauses.
As for his writing style: those of his metaphors that were not show more cliché were confusing. Sometimes both a once. In recounting the “events” of May 1968, Horne writes: “The strike spread like a brushfire in a heat-wave summer.” This caused me to stop and try to recall whether there had been extreme heat in 1968.
On the whole, Horne views history as the chronicle of the deeds of great men. Five of his seven ages have their respective sections named after a ruler (Philippe Auguste, Henri IV, Louis XIV, Napoléon, de Gaulle). In addition, he shares the “Parisian fallacy”: the history of France is the history of Paris and vice versa. This combination results, in the early chapters, in a focus on successive Capetian kings, not all of whom were particularly interested in Paris or spent much time there. It’s as if nothing of importance happened in Paris in those years.
In addition to kings (and their mistresses), the text offers a cavalcade of other personalities, famous and infamous: great ministers Sully, Richelieu, Mazarin, and Colbert; dramatists Corneille, Racine, and Molière; novelists Balzac, Hugo and Flaubert. Other evocative names are Manon Lescaut, Ninon de Lenclos, Scaramouche, and Cartouche. Unfortunately, some are little more than name-checked.
A partial balance to Horne’s predilection for “great man history,” is his sensitivity to the condition of those below: the numerous poor crammed into squalid unhygienic slums at the periphery. Many upheavals of French history, 1789 and 1870, for example, erupted when their suffering and resentment boiled over. Horne then notes how, when the society returned to normal, it was the upper bourgeoisie that profited, not the proletariat.
My first impression of Horne’s lyrical conclusion, which lists Parisian women down through the ages from Héloïse to Piaf, was that it was in the same vein as his concern for the plight of the proletariat. But when he subsumes them as successive embodiments of Marianne, the iconic symbol of Paris, this seems to correspond with his “great man” view of history. Paris is the ever-lasting female these heroes wooed and for whose love they risked their great deeds.
Understandably, a city with such a hold on the imagination of many inspires such fanciful flights. Instead of a woman, my image of Paris is that it is the world’s largest open-air museum, which repays the time spent there with ever-changing perceptions. Just as I never tire of visiting it, I never tire of reading about it. Despite the book’s drawbacks, overall I enjoyed this vast compendium of Parisian lore. show less

Overall, a book with a lot of great information that wasn't unenjoyable. But Horne is a stuffy writer at times, and maybe even a bit of a stuffy historian. In the onslaught of historical facts, there doesn't seem to be any moment to stop and reflect or parse through the information more deeply. Granted, that may not have been within the scope of the book for him, and that's fine. As a reader, I prefer history with more spring in its interpretations.

The final chapters felt like something of a slog, and, as the book's focus comes closer to modern times, a bias becomes clear with his telling of history. For example, it's clear that de Gaulle represents greatness in all ways to Horne. It's also clear that France's occupation of Algeria was show more only an annoying "burden" (447) to France—conspicuously avoiding the horrors of colonialism and the massacres carried out by the French colonizers themselves. There's nothing wrong with Horne having an opinion about de Gaulle and French Algeria, but the book was too slanted by the end. show less

Seven Ages of Paris is a great introduction to the history of Paris as well as to the wider context of the history of France and the individuals who have played a major role in its history. Alistair Horne takes no knowledge for granted and therefore provides fulsome background including, for example, introducing Napoleon, Louis XIV and other historic leaders of the country. Many readers will probably find some of this context unnecessary, but few will find it useless. It helps fill in the gaps in discussing the history of the city over a 2000-year period and provides a fuller and more readable history of Paris itself.

For each "age," Horne seeks to highlight the political, institutional, religious, cultural, legal and architectural show more developments, if any. Rather than try to provide a continuous history of all of these trends (which most likely would turn the book into very dry reading as well as lengthening it significantly), Horne zeros in on the interesting highlights. However, Horne does not neglect the intervening periods but provides information on transitional developments. He also includes anecdotes and events that in the grand scheme of things may not be significant but that a reader may appreciate knowing for their intrinsic interest. show less

This is a wonderfully written history of Paris by a noted Francophile, one of whose previous books on the Franco Prussian war, siege and Commune I read and enjoyed several years ago. Full of colour and variety, it covers political and military history, architecture, culture and the arts, and gives a good feeling for the ebb and flow of life, at least in the latter parts. Coverage is fairly uneven, e.g. the first 1300 years occupy the same number of pages as the 20 years of the Napoleonic era; this is of course inevitable up to a point, but I would have welcomed a little more coverage of the pre-1500 period overall, and some may quibble over his choice of dates for the 7 ages (the first begins in 1180). This is a pleasure to read, but it show more could definitely have done with more detailed maps of the city at various stages and perhaps line drawings of buildings being described. show less

Themes: civilization, war, government, religion, politics, city development, art, architecture, royalty

Setting: Paris, France from before 1000 AD to 1968

The author starts by saying that every city is like a person, and Paris is definitely a woman. Like any fascinating woman, she is changeable and captivating. I'm not entirely sure this conceit works, but it's not a bad way to start off the book.

Here's what works: I could certainly feel the amount of research that must have gone into this book. I'm sure it was staggering, and it shows. The author is obviously really familiar with all the key people, places, and ideas. And I liked being able to link things together. For the first time, I really got a sense of how all those Louis's fit show more together and exactly who Cardinal Richelieu was.

What didn't work: Really, it was too much. I was overwhelmed. Some of that may have been my fault, for trying to read the book straight through, without putting it down for very long, but I was afraid I would lose my place, so to speak, if I set it down. So I pushed through and it got to be confusing.

Personal feelings: I was actually glad to see that the writer sort of skimmed through the French Revolution. It became just one of a series of revolts occuring in the capital, and rather than go into all the disgusting violence in a lot of detail, he just hit on a few things, especially how it affected the look of the city itself and the economy. I read The Lost King of France last year and that one had gory detail piled upon detail of dismemberment, torture, and so on, until I couldn't wait to put it down. This book spared me all that, and I was glad. But if you are interested in the history of France primarily during the French Revolution, this is probably not a great book for you.

My other observation is probably not the author's fault, but the publishers. This is the kind of book (or I am the kind of reader, I don't know which) where you need some more maps and illustrations and so on to figure out what's going on. Instead of having them throughout the text, there are a few pages of color pictures and a few pages of black and white pictures, and that's it. I would have liked at least a black and white picture of all the major monarchs and landmarks. He assumes that you know what Paris looks like, but I only know what I've seen in books and movies. But like I say, that may be the publisher. They seem to be very picky about how many pictures they will include.

Overall: I enjoyed this book, somewhat, but I came away with the strong impression that I am EXTREMELY glad that I do not live in Paris, especially in Paris before 1900. It sounds like a horrible place to live for most people. Yes, there were great artists, musicians, scientists, and politicians who lived there and left their marks on the city. But most of the time, it was a miserable place to be, with plagues, fires, open sewage, constant violence, and little or no civil liberties. Various groups would be rounded up for whatever reason - heresy, political unrest - and summarily executed or tortured. I know this went on in most of the world, but wow, I got really tired of reading about it page after page. I debated between 2.5 stars and 3, but I decided to round up, because I think the author did a pretty good job. It's just that I found the subject rather grimmer than I expected. show less

This book is sick. It amounts to a history of France, but Horne stays focused on the real Paris, as it was and as it is, in a wonderful way, while providing awesome insight into the character of Parisians and of France in general. It's an awesome book.

I was reminded of fellow Goodreader F1Wild, who doesn't like military history. I don't either, so I was psyched that Horne breezes by military affairs, while giving much more shrift to art, literature. architecture, fashion, and the rest of what makes society.

And Jennifer will be pleased to hear that the epilogue focuses on Père Lachaise Cemetery, which has so many important people in it that it's basically like a history of Paris unto itself.

Totally readable, exquisitely researched, show more gossipy in a good way...this is a very, very good book. I wish I'd never visited Paris without it. show less