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Paris Histories and Mysteries: How the City of Lights Changed the World
Who needs another book about Paris? You do!
Paris has been studied, written about, visited, loved, even adored for centuries, yet history still has would have happened if the contract to demolish the Eiffel Tower had been enforced and Eiffel’s lease on the land revoked?Who was the “Unknown Girl of the Seine” and how is she still saving people’s lives today?Was Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera a Gothic thriller or an investigative journalist’s account of the truth?And speaking of investigations, did Edgar Allan Poe—the man who invented the detective story—write the first one in Paris?How did an obscure third century saint and martyr inspire a worldwide network of educational institutions?How did death appear to people in the Middle Ages, and what happened in Paris to change our way of seeing death and dying?Does the alchemist Nicolas Flamel still live and walk the Earth?Come along and discover a mysterious Paris, one that is more than a tourist stop or a postcard photo-op, but a place where events large and small have altered the course of world history.
Go behind the scenes to discover Paris Mysteries and Histories!
“John Frederick squires us around his beloved city of Paris in the great tradition of the American flâneur, ready to be amused, educated, or surprised by unexpected adventures on any street corner. If you are traveling to Paris, he will help you to see things from fresh angles, and lift the hem of histories and mysteries large and small. If you are going to travel in the mind from your easy chair, he’ll arouse your inner senses with sights and smells and amuse-bouches. This book is a delightful stroll through the Paris of the heart.”
— Robert Moss, Bestselling Author of The Secret History of Dreaming
Paris has been studied, written about, visited, loved, even adored for centuries, yet history still has would have happened if the contract to demolish the Eiffel Tower had been enforced and Eiffel’s lease on the land revoked?Who was the “Unknown Girl of the Seine” and how is she still saving people’s lives today?Was Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera a Gothic thriller or an investigative journalist’s account of the truth?And speaking of investigations, did Edgar Allan Poe—the man who invented the detective story—write the first one in Paris?How did an obscure third century saint and martyr inspire a worldwide network of educational institutions?How did death appear to people in the Middle Ages, and what happened in Paris to change our way of seeing death and dying?Does the alchemist Nicolas Flamel still live and walk the Earth?Come along and discover a mysterious Paris, one that is more than a tourist stop or a postcard photo-op, but a place where events large and small have altered the course of world history.
Go behind the scenes to discover Paris Mysteries and Histories!
“John Frederick squires us around his beloved city of Paris in the great tradition of the American flâneur, ready to be amused, educated, or surprised by unexpected adventures on any street corner. If you are traveling to Paris, he will help you to see things from fresh angles, and lift the hem of histories and mysteries large and small. If you are going to travel in the mind from your easy chair, he’ll arouse your inner senses with sights and smells and amuse-bouches. This book is a delightful stroll through the Paris of the heart.”
— Robert Moss, Bestselling Author of The Secret History of Dreaming
404 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 24, 2022
11 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 27, 2023
This was really fantastic. Twelve chapters covering various facets of Paris from Catherine de Medici's column, to the birth of the Metric system, to the Phantom of the Opera, and much more in between. The author does a great job exploring his subjects, and provides comprehensive metro directions and specifics for finding historical sites mentioned in the book or plaques and approximations for those no longer standing. I will definitely read this again if I ever get back to Paris.
March 6, 2023
Oo-la-la! A magical tour of Paris
I have been to Paris twice and after reading this great little book I am planning my third sojourn to explore John Frederick 's fantastic version of the city. This is a fabulous book for armchair and real travelers who yearn to learn beyond the standard tourist drivel.
I have been to Paris twice and after reading this great little book I am planning my third sojourn to explore John Frederick 's fantastic version of the city. This is a fabulous book for armchair and real travelers who yearn to learn beyond the standard tourist drivel.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews