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The Making of Paris: The Story of How Paris Evolved from a Fishing Village into the World's Most Beautiful City
Paris has long been the world’s most popular destination and, in the view of many, the world’s most beautiful city – the product of two thousand years of continuous improvement and refinement. The Making of Paris is the story of how Paris evolved from a small fishing village on an island in the middle of the Seine River into the City of Light. The focus of the book is on the city as seen from the street, in order to understand the evolution of the urban landscape of Paris through the rues and boulevards and the buildings and monuments from its long and storied past.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published March 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 4, 2021
Kelley has done something surprising. He's made the subject of Paris charmless. That is not an easy feat.
I tried to start this book, and after about five pages I gave up. The first chapter was a list of the tribes and monarchs who ruled the area during the period under discussion, followed by a list of the architectural features remaining from that period. That's it.
Maybe there's someone who would find this useful but It isn't me and I can't imagine most people walking through the city would want to prepare by going chapter-by-chapter and making a list of everything they'd see on their walk.
I wish he'd arranged it by area instead of chronologically - like, as you walk through this particular arrondisement, these are the things you'll see and this is when they were created. Or, if chronology is better suited to a survey of how the city developed, then at least have a little narrative going on. Maybe I was spoiled by Elaine Sciolino's book on the Seine, but this was a disappointment.
The overview at the beginning of the development of the organization of Paris into departements and arrondisements was useful but after that... meh.
I tried to start this book, and after about five pages I gave up. The first chapter was a list of the tribes and monarchs who ruled the area during the period under discussion, followed by a list of the architectural features remaining from that period. That's it.
Maybe there's someone who would find this useful but It isn't me and I can't imagine most people walking through the city would want to prepare by going chapter-by-chapter and making a list of everything they'd see on their walk.
I wish he'd arranged it by area instead of chronologically - like, as you walk through this particular arrondisement, these are the things you'll see and this is when they were created. Or, if chronology is better suited to a survey of how the city developed, then at least have a little narrative going on. Maybe I was spoiled by Elaine Sciolino's book on the Seine, but this was a disappointment.
The overview at the beginning of the development of the organization of Paris into departements and arrondisements was useful but after that... meh.
October 20, 2021
Russell Kelley hosted a wonderful Zoom-based series on the Great Chateaux of the Loire and the Isle-de-France, a project of the Alliance Française groups in Chicago and Miami. Russell was remarkably well informed and totally congenial. His recent book, The Making of Paris, lived up to my expectations.
Russell says in his introduction that the book was inspired by the questions of visitors to his home in Paris, where he and his wife settled when he was a young American corporate lawyer. Russell has all the eye for detail that a successful corporate lawyer could be expected to have. Which is great. But I think that he sometimes focuses more on the details than on the romance and the emotional nuance and the political and social cabals that drove all those details to the surface and up the walls and down the boulevards of Paris.
I've spent more than forty years teaching both psychology and sociology, so for me the romance really is the story. I understand and applaud Russell's careful lawyerly distance from anything other than The Facts, Ma'am, Just the Facts.
But despite that, the romance does pop up, and that's what I really loved about Russell's book. I've never lived in Paris, but gosh wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to do!
By the way, a fine companion to Russell's book is Paris from the Underground Up by Lorant Deutsch, a historically savvy guide book which traces actual walking tours around Paris, Metro stop by Metro stop. You'll find copies on book shelves and in kiosks all over Paris, or if you're an armchair traveler like me, you can just get yourself a copy from your local bookstore.
Russell says in his introduction that the book was inspired by the questions of visitors to his home in Paris, where he and his wife settled when he was a young American corporate lawyer. Russell has all the eye for detail that a successful corporate lawyer could be expected to have. Which is great. But I think that he sometimes focuses more on the details than on the romance and the emotional nuance and the political and social cabals that drove all those details to the surface and up the walls and down the boulevards of Paris.
I've spent more than forty years teaching both psychology and sociology, so for me the romance really is the story. I understand and applaud Russell's careful lawyerly distance from anything other than The Facts, Ma'am, Just the Facts.
But despite that, the romance does pop up, and that's what I really loved about Russell's book. I've never lived in Paris, but gosh wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to do!
By the way, a fine companion to Russell's book is Paris from the Underground Up by Lorant Deutsch, a historically savvy guide book which traces actual walking tours around Paris, Metro stop by Metro stop. You'll find copies on book shelves and in kiosks all over Paris, or if you're an armchair traveler like me, you can just get yourself a copy from your local bookstore.
January 15, 2024
This is a story, but it isn't a story. It's a history organized mostly by who was in charge of Paris at the time, telling who they were, a bit of their back story (and end stories, sometimes), and a lot about the work they did in making and/or remaking Paris.
From a village isolated on an island in the Seine, Paris has evolved into one of the world's leading cities. A nearly continuous program of building and rebuilding, often with detailed planning of how to integrate the changes with the constants, has kept the city pretty livable and made it into a fascinating place to visit.
Kelley has done a great job of cataloging the various stages of growth and embellishment that Paris has undergone. I can understand how some readers might find this dry -- there's quite a lot of statistics and architects' names, but if you don't like that, skim over it and stick to the sections about the king or president or whoever and what they did to improve the city. My big quibble is that there's too much repetition. If the author said once that La Defense is the biggest office development in Europe (and backed it up with the square footage) once, he said it a dozen times. I see that you might have to mention a building or a neighborhood or a project a few times in the book, but maybe cite the stats once and then leave off the details in the rest of the place's appearances.
Anyhow, I really enjoyed this, because I love Paris and I'm a history geek, and I sat down to read with my laptop open to Google Maps so I could see images of the places Kelley described. That page/screen experience enhanced the reading.
From a village isolated on an island in the Seine, Paris has evolved into one of the world's leading cities. A nearly continuous program of building and rebuilding, often with detailed planning of how to integrate the changes with the constants, has kept the city pretty livable and made it into a fascinating place to visit.
Kelley has done a great job of cataloging the various stages of growth and embellishment that Paris has undergone. I can understand how some readers might find this dry -- there's quite a lot of statistics and architects' names, but if you don't like that, skim over it and stick to the sections about the king or president or whoever and what they did to improve the city. My big quibble is that there's too much repetition. If the author said once that La Defense is the biggest office development in Europe (and backed it up with the square footage) once, he said it a dozen times. I see that you might have to mention a building or a neighborhood or a project a few times in the book, but maybe cite the stats once and then leave off the details in the rest of the place's appearances.
Anyhow, I really enjoyed this, because I love Paris and I'm a history geek, and I sat down to read with my laptop open to Google Maps so I could see images of the places Kelley described. That page/screen experience enhanced the reading.
November 16, 2021
It was interesting and fun (as a Francopbile and having lived in Paris) to read about the development of Paris but I skimmed through most of the book. Too many details for the casual reader and I know I won't remember them. This could be a good reference for the future. Clearly a lot of research went into the writing of this book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews