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A review by alundeberg
Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne
3.0
Few people, if any, when thinking of island destinations think of Paris, but that is indeed what she was for the first millennia of her existence. Looking at a map of the city today, one barely registers the islands in the Seine, the Ile de la Cite being home to Notre Dame and St. Chappelle, but two thousand years ago it was home to some roamin' Romans who decided that the 56 acres of land surrounded by the river would be a good place to build a stronghold. Thus began the history of one of the most illustrious cities in the world. Historian Alistair Horne strives to capture all of Parisian history into his 422 page book "Seven Ages of France". Reading this book is very much like taking a coach tour through history with an enthusiastic guide who starts on one story, notices something out the window and tells the story of that, but oh wait, did you see that? Let me tell me you about that. A lot of breadth, little depth. However, if you are new to a city, a coach tour is a great way to get one's bearings to see where you would like to spend your time on your visit.
I really liked how he traces the lineage of leaders and explains how most (there too many of them to give equal attention to) changed the city, spreading it eastward across the Seine and the to the west. It is very helpful in understanding the timeline of rulers from the Capetians, the Valois, to the Bourbons, to heads being chopped off, to Napoleon, the Bourbons, to a Republic, then Napoleon III, to the Commune, to a Republic, then another and then about a hundred different governments to finally de Gaulle. However, I found Horne's attention to be uneven. He simplifies certain movements, like the rise of the Impressionists. One would never guess how much they rocked the art world and the establishment and how hard they fought for recognition. Three pages are devoted to his hard-on for Josephine Baker with many salacious and rather racist descriptions of her (and he includes a topless photo of her), while he gives one disparaging paragraph to "dumpy" Gertrude Stein, who influenced many writers of the time and added to legitimacy to the rising artists. I guess her being an unattractive lesbian in a monogamous relationship with no titillating details doesn't float his boat. After WWII, he splits hairs about how much poor writers and artists should be considered "collabos" with the Germans for just trying to make a living, while ignoring the wealthy, real collaborationists like Coco Chanel, who could have ridden out the war in style somewhere else. I found him a bit sexist, as he compares Paris to a tempestuous woman, and primarily focuses on beautiful women who have the most sex. Simone de Beauvoir is repeatedly described as Sartre's "cohort" before he finally mentions that she wrote "The Second Sex".
While I learned a lot about Paris I did not know before, I have the feeling of getting off the coach, looking at the pictures I took of the various statues throughout and still marking them as "Somebody Very Important and Dead". It is just a blur.
I really liked how he traces the lineage of leaders and explains how most (there too many of them to give equal attention to) changed the city, spreading it eastward across the Seine and the to the west. It is very helpful in understanding the timeline of rulers from the Capetians, the Valois, to the Bourbons, to heads being chopped off, to Napoleon, the Bourbons, to a Republic, then Napoleon III, to the Commune, to a Republic, then another and then about a hundred different governments to finally de Gaulle. However, I found Horne's attention to be uneven. He simplifies certain movements, like the rise of the Impressionists. One would never guess how much they rocked the art world and the establishment and how hard they fought for recognition. Three pages are devoted to his hard-on for Josephine Baker with many salacious and rather racist descriptions of her (and he includes a topless photo of her), while he gives one disparaging paragraph to "dumpy" Gertrude Stein, who influenced many writers of the time and added to legitimacy to the rising artists. I guess her being an unattractive lesbian in a monogamous relationship with no titillating details doesn't float his boat. After WWII, he splits hairs about how much poor writers and artists should be considered "collabos" with the Germans for just trying to make a living, while ignoring the wealthy, real collaborationists like Coco Chanel, who could have ridden out the war in style somewhere else. I found him a bit sexist, as he compares Paris to a tempestuous woman, and primarily focuses on beautiful women who have the most sex. Simone de Beauvoir is repeatedly described as Sartre's "cohort" before he finally mentions that she wrote "The Second Sex".
While I learned a lot about Paris I did not know before, I have the feeling of getting off the coach, looking at the pictures I took of the various statues throughout and still marking them as "Somebody Very Important and Dead". It is just a blur.