Tales of Two Cities: Paris, London and the Birth of the Modern City

by Jonathan Conlin

Paris and London have long held a mutual fascination, and never more so than in the period 1750-1914, when they vied to be the world's greatest city. Each city has been the focus of many books, yet Jonathan Conlin here explores the complex relationship between them for the first time. The reach and influence of both cities was such that the story of their rivalry has global implications. By borrowing, imitating and learning from each other Paris and London invented the true metropolis.

Tales of Two Cities examines and compares five urban spaces—the pleasure garden, the cemetery, the apartment, the restaurant and the music hall—that defined urban modernity in the nineteenth century. The citizens of Paris and London first created these essential features of the modern cityscape and so defined urban living for all of us.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, France, Travel, Urban Planning, London, Cities

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nonfiction, particularly when it is written for the popular audience, way oversells itself. I enjoy reading the social history of this or that item, color, concept, social custom, etc., but let's face it, every thing is not the most important thing ever. No single group of people, no matter how broadly defined, is responsible for saving civilization.

This is one of those kinds of books. The thesis is that London and Paris have spent centuries talking trash about one another, but really, their interaction has created the modern city. The author makes a strong case, and really brings up a lot of fascinating stuff along the way, but of course, peoples and cultures affect one another, and, although it isn't included here, no doubt every other city in the world is part of creating the overall cultural milieu of the modern.

And I'm not trying to give Conlin a hard time. The book was well researched and footnoted, but also pleasurable to read. And he really did bring up some cool history. I learned a great deal about pleasure gardens, cemeteries, apartments, restaurants, and music halls, and I was entertained the whole way. Conlin does that James Burke trick of tying everything together that I so love, so that we see what Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allen Poe have to do not only with each other, but with the modern business of detective work and CSI and urban policing. There is an interplay between art and entertainment, between fad and social improvement schemes, and it's very clear and well documented. Besides, burial customs are always intriguing.

Library copy.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conlin’s accessible work of comparative history makes for a pleasant amble through the development of two great world capitals. Paying special attention to the art, architecture, journalism and literature of the period, Conlin likens the Anglo-French relationship between 1750 and 1914 to a “conversation about how to create the ideal city.”

Tales of Two Cities compares everyday London and Paris life in six thematic places: apartment blocks, streets, restaurants, music halls, the criminal underworld and cemeteries. Throughout, Conlin’s aim is to explode myths and clichés by exposing the more complex connections between the two nations. For instance, the stereotypical flâneur or solitary male walker, so familiar from French literature, was not a Parisian original but derived from the London “Spectator” in Addison and Steele’s 1710s periodical. Readers may also be surprised to learn that the rise of French celebrity chefs was inextricably linked to London’s restaurant scene – stars like Auguste Escoffier got their start cooking for London hotels including the Savoy and the Ritz – and that Sherlock Holmes owes his existence to French detective fiction.

Treading the middle ground between academia and a popular history like Bill Bryson’s At Home (Conlin’s extensive research is hidden in endnotes, and a few dozen black-and-white illustrations break up the text), this enjoyable book wears its intelligence lightly. The layperson will find enough fascinating titbits scattered throughout – such as: the cancan was first danced by men, and “crib” as slang for one’s house was a Victorian coinage – to make this a delight to dip into, if not read thoroughly.

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that I couldn't decide if I liked or just tolerated it. The premise is based on the competition between London and Paris for the title of the greatest city in the world; in that contest, the modern city-scape was born. The author divides the book into six areas important in a metropolitan setting: the street, the restaurant, the dance,the cemetery, the underworld, and the house. A good example of what was born out of this rivalry is the apartment which started in Paris and was considered by the Londoner as a setting for "sinful activities". But eventually the space saving allure of apartment living converted London. That influence finally became global in scope.

I think what caused me such angst with this book was the overuse of quotes from obscure books of the 1700s. Long sections were based on these books and it tended to become rather dry. Secondly, if one does not read French (luckily I do, barely), it would be a trial since the author seldom provides any translation.

There is much interesting information here but not enough to give the book anything more than three stars.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abandoned at 23%. This is so rambling that I still have no idea what point, if any, the author is trying to make. I've just spent what feels like an eternity reading about 'flaneurs' - young dandies who wander about observing the cities. I'd much rather have been reading about the cities, which is what the blurb claims the book is about. Especially since, after all that, the author tells us he thinks the flaneur has been given too much importance (not by me, he hasn't) and should be left on the periphery (hear! hear!). The next chapter begins with the life history of a Frenchman who, we are then informed, is actually fictional. The author seems considerably more fascinated by writers than by cities, at one point giving a lengthy summary of an entire book of Zola's under the pretence of looking at types of home.

Not for me.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is quite apt. "Tales of Two Cities" is ultimately an assembly of the stories about people travelling back and forth between Paris and London, culturally cross-pollinating the two metropoles in the process. It might be tempting to describe this as a comparative analysis of the two capitals, but there are no such pretensions. This is a dive into material that author Jonathan Conlin clearly finds interesting, without an attempt to place things in an hierarchical structure or connect to broader historical trends and themes of which the reader may be aware.

I found this (heavily footnoted) book valuable largely as a series of thematically arranged factoids. The delivery was strangely flat, which is odd for a work that holds itself out as a set of tales. It is my experience that the best history textbooks comprise a series of narratives which weave in and out of each other, while the worst are a dry list of facts, names, and dates. Sad to say, this book's style skews more to the latter. I finished it, but at more than two weeks for just under 250 large-print pages, I could not describe it as a page turner.

Perhaps I am to blame, for not having found the thesis particularly compelling. Conlin posits that rather than being separate and unique cities that uniquely reflect their respective national characters, London and Paris are more like close neighbours who greedily ape each other's fashions and provide fertile soil to one another's censored artists. To be honest, the antithesis had never occurred to me, and the thesis seems only too reasonable.

Still, if one is in search of a group of interesting facts about Paris and London, and one has already read "How Paris Became Paris" (DeJean) and Seven Ages of Paris (Horne), this book might be worth a spin.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was kind of excited when I saw this on the library shelf -- it appeared to be the kind of history I loved - all social/cultural stuff, with a lot of literary references thrown in. Alas, it was not to be. It was dry and boring, and somehow disconnected. The author was looking at life in London and Paris, mostly in 17 and 1800's; and how developments in each city influenced the other. First chapter was on housing. Paris leaned toward stacked apartment dwellings, and London toward 'terraces' (think linked condos of a dozen or so). There are many 'terraces' from 1920's still standing in the Detroit area. Second chapter was on . . .don't really recall the title, but focused on the CanCan dance. So lets call it nightlife. There was a chapter called streetlife that talked mostly about advertising and signage. There was another chapter called "The Underworld." How could that disappoint? It did. I stopped there. When you are referencing the great French literary detectives, Sherlock Holmes, and Edgar Alan Poe, and I'm not even a little interested - you are a terrible writer. An awful lot of information, but very poor synthesis of that information. Not sure what his thesis was, he never really seemed to reach (or even attempt to draw) any conclusions.

[Jdu FFH · Rating 2 out of 5]

Conlin has a great tale to tell on how the chaos of 17th century city life slowly became more civilized and grew into a city culture, with walkable streets, restaurants and places to dance. Cities at the end of the 19th century were no longer a hotch-potch of wooden buildings jumbled together on vile streets full of mud, as they were at the end of the 18th. This tale on the birth of the modern city (the subtitle of the book) could have made a great book, in which inevitable both Paris and London would have played a great role as the major cities in those days.

However, Conlin forces us to see this birth of the modern city as a continuous interplay between Paris and London only, and does hardly provide any context. Sure, introducing numerous people that worked in and wrote about both cities is entertaining, although there are far too many people introduced who disappear a few pages later. But a little context or introduction to the society those people lived in would have benefited the book. We now meet a lot of people who were in Paris and London, where a lot of interesting stuff happened, but we do not get a bigger picture on how and why this all happened.

[Oishani Sarkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a historical novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris and his release to life in London with his daughter Lucie, whom he had never met: Lucie's marriage and the collision between her beloved husband and the people who caused her father's imprisonment; and Monsieur and Madame Defarge, sellers of wine in a poor suburb of Paris. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. Very well written. Enjoyed reading. The ending was great.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise but informative examination of the ways in which the two major cities of Western Europe developed through both competition and emulation of and through various architectural, social and cultural areas. Both cities, quite literally, traded ideas and impressions leading to the adoption, for example, of apartments or "flats," in London (whereas Paris had already built the majority of its housing in this manner). As well, the book documents the interchange between the cities in developing a "street culture" replete with storefronts, sidewalks, parks, lighting (which opened the way for the detective novel) and entertainment. All in all a very enjoyable and educational read.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 18th and 19th centuries London and Paris competed with each other for the title of the world's premiere city. In this book you will learn the surprising history of the flaneur, the can can, the restaurant, the apartment block as well as detective fiction and mass burial grounds. A lively and highly readable history/histoire of cross fertilisation of ideas/idees. Many of your preconceptions will be challenged is this engaging study which identifies so many similarities between these two seemingly different cities; written by an American.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

More a catalog than a history. A real slog to finish. Made me question why I feel so compelled to complete books I start.

[Lid · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book through Goodread's First Reads program. There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed, especially some of the historical tidbits that put other novels and stories that I have read into perspective. With that said, I think I lost interest in this book due to its organization and over use/reliance on other literary accounts from the time period. While the book is separated into 6 main chapters all focusing on a distinct subject of city living (housing, streets, restaurants, etc.), the author's explanation of such subjects focused so heavily on quoting from other accounts that he failed to give a general or basic explanation of the point or distinction he was trying to make. It is clear that the author is well-educated and has done extensive research and preparation for this book. And with my limited knowledge of London and Paris and the historical landmarks therein, perhaps I am not the intended audience for this work. Nevertheless, I think there are portions of this book that make it a worthwhile read.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is not terrible but it is annoying and frustrating for an urban junkie like me.

Conlin offers more of a literary analysis of the two cities, and, I'm sorry, I'm not going to go back to read Emile Zola to get the context of what he's saying.

The premise is good: compare the two cities and their long relationship by examining the roots of physical place types such as shopping districts, restaurants, and cemeteries.

The upshot is like spending a too-long meal with an overeducated twit who sprinkles lots of French into his conversation. It's a conversation I wasn't following and actually not that interested in following. When you are tempted to check Facebook on your cell while reading--that is not a good thing.

French lit majors might enjoy this; but I need a more physical, tactile and concrete approach to discussions of cities and their histories, buildings and urban design.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paris and London are two fascinating cities, and although they are separated by a few miles of water, their separate cultures and growth are fascinating and worthy of study and comparison. Jonathan Conlin's book traces six major comparable features and attempts to illuminate the endless fascination of these two cities. The book is well-documented, and there are appropriate illustrations. What the book lacked for me, however, was any sense of flow, rhythm or style in the writing. Far too often the pages and chapters sounded like a lecture, and thus any substance and interest became bogged down in a prose that droned on.

I have no doubt that Conlin knows his material, and I believe that within and weighted down by poor editing and a heavy-handed writing style resides a thoroughly engaging read, but I am no miner, and while I am willing to be challenged by well-documented material I became weary digging out the material in this book.

This book disappointed me.

[Cathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found Tales of Two Cities: Paris, London and the Birth of the Modern City by Jonathan Conlin to be a very SLOW read. I did discover interesting facts about the evolution of the apartment building, the creation of sidewalks,how restaurants got their name, the establishment of Dance Halls , the scandal caused by the cancan, the development of the police force, detectives and the detective story, and the two fold purpose of park-like cemeteries. What really slowed me down were the staggering number of names and dates. I had to read only in small chunks to absorb the density of the material. I didn't dislike this book, it is just very different from my preferred genre (admittedly fiction). It took me out my usual comfort zone of breezing through the text. I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway in return for an honest review.

[amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skips around covering a lot of different subjects and ideas, in far less depth than I would have liked. The policed city (la ville policée) comes and goes as a unifying argument. With respect, I might call this the highest form of amateur history: a well-researched and well-written book undertaken out of love and curiosity that evokes the vitality and mess of the cultural exchange between two cities without purporting to offer (or even seek) a definitive or comprehensive account. Its best feature is the curiosity it evokes in turn — and the impression that it must have been fun to write.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing look at how Paris influenced London and London influenced Paris. Conlin focuses on 6 themes, each chapter devoted to one--apartment living, streets, restaurants, dance, the underworld and cemeteries. He shows how influence moved back and forth--with London originating the restaurant and then with Paris restaurants and chefs influencing London. Similarly, he shows the evolution of the can can from its voyage from London to Paris and back. I thought it gave interesting glimpses at daily life in each city.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look at some aspects of London and Paris, often surprising -- such as Paris as the original home of the detective story, and London as that of the cancan. Wish it was much longer.

[Atlantic Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive and meticulous account of the relationship between two of Europe's major commercial and cultural hubs. This thought-provoking book kept coming back to me as I tramped around London