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Paris: The Secret History
Paris is the city of light and the city of darkness - a place of ceaseless revolution and reinvention that for two thousand years has drawn those with the highest ideals and the lowest morals to its teeming streets. In Andrew Hussey's wonderful book we encounter the myriad citizens whose stories have shaped the nineteenth-century flaneurs aimlessly wandering Haussman's new streets; survivors and victims of ravaging plagues; the builders of Notre Dame Cathedral; those who turned the River Seine red with blood on St Bartholomew's Day; and the many others whose lives have imprinted themselves on a city that has always aroused strong emotions.
528 pages, Paperback
First published July 6, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
December 21, 2012
I was disappointed by this one. There are a lot of entertaining historical anecdotes in here, but somehow as a whole it doesn't quite hang together.
Part of the problem is that it wants to be more than just a factual history. Hussey says in the prologue that he is modelling the project on Peter Ackroyd's wonderful London: The Biography, but that sets the bar pretty high. He is decent when he sticks to the facts, but when he starts trying to be metaphysical, he just doesn't have Ackroyd's control, and ends up drawing rather silly and pseudo-profound conclusions like, "The death of [Princess] Diana [...] could only have happened here [...] she is only the latest and most famous example of those who have been fatally seduced here." And so on.
Part of the reason Ackroyd was so good at moving beyond facts into "psychogeography" (or whatever you want to call it) is that he took a catholic, thematic approach to his history. Hussey just starts with the Celts and works his way methodically forwards in time. Of course there's nothing wrong with that as a methodology, but it does mean he has to work hard to keep each chapter coherent, and occasionally it slips away from him.
The book's focus is neither one thing or the other. It claims to be a "secret" history which examines the city's underclasses, its back-alleys and criminals and occultists. Yet there is a strong relience on fairly un-secret narratives about kings and presidents and other "great men" or important dates. The result is that neither strand seems wholly satisfying.
Having one eye on the downtrodden was a good idea, and it provides the book with most of its best stories. It's great to hear details about things like the "bread of Madame Montpensier" (which used flour from ground-up human bones, during food shortages), or about the semi-mythical King of Thieves holding court over the city's beggars. But too often, his remit manifests itself only in a vague fascination with what he calls "whores", and a predilection for details which, while often interesting, can sometimes seem juvenile.
Finally, the quality of the writing itself irritated me. He does not know the difference between "flout" and "flaunt". He uses the seismological term "epicentre" as a lazy synonym for "centre". The net result of all this is a feeling that Hussey has a wealth of information about Paris, but not a very good idea about how to organise it or talk about it.
You'll get some interesting stuff out of this book, but it's more of an effort than it should be.
Part of the problem is that it wants to be more than just a factual history. Hussey says in the prologue that he is modelling the project on Peter Ackroyd's wonderful London: The Biography, but that sets the bar pretty high. He is decent when he sticks to the facts, but when he starts trying to be metaphysical, he just doesn't have Ackroyd's control, and ends up drawing rather silly and pseudo-profound conclusions like, "The death of [Princess] Diana [...] could only have happened here [...] she is only the latest and most famous example of those who have been fatally seduced here." And so on.
Part of the reason Ackroyd was so good at moving beyond facts into "psychogeography" (or whatever you want to call it) is that he took a catholic, thematic approach to his history. Hussey just starts with the Celts and works his way methodically forwards in time. Of course there's nothing wrong with that as a methodology, but it does mean he has to work hard to keep each chapter coherent, and occasionally it slips away from him.
The book's focus is neither one thing or the other. It claims to be a "secret" history which examines the city's underclasses, its back-alleys and criminals and occultists. Yet there is a strong relience on fairly un-secret narratives about kings and presidents and other "great men" or important dates. The result is that neither strand seems wholly satisfying.
Having one eye on the downtrodden was a good idea, and it provides the book with most of its best stories. It's great to hear details about things like the "bread of Madame Montpensier" (which used flour from ground-up human bones, during food shortages), or about the semi-mythical King of Thieves holding court over the city's beggars. But too often, his remit manifests itself only in a vague fascination with what he calls "whores", and a predilection for details which, while often interesting, can sometimes seem juvenile.
Finally, the quality of the writing itself irritated me. He does not know the difference between "flout" and "flaunt". He uses the seismological term "epicentre" as a lazy synonym for "centre". The net result of all this is a feeling that Hussey has a wealth of information about Paris, but not a very good idea about how to organise it or talk about it.
You'll get some interesting stuff out of this book, but it's more of an effort than it should be.
March 9, 2012
If you love Paris as the City of Light, this book might change your opinion. The author digs deep into the history of the people and neighborhoods and it is not a pretty picture. He covers the city from pre-Roman times until the present day and because he has to cram a lot of history into 433 pages some events (the Revolution, Napoleon,etc.) are given short shrift. But this is a "secret" history,a social history, and not your typical history book so it is a forgivable sin. A familiarity with the city of Paris, although not a requirement, helps the reader understand and visualize how the city and the attitudes of Parisians evolved. An excellent book for the lover of everything Parisian.
October 21, 2011
An engaging and at times humorous and dark look at the secret history of Paris, the history of this city as seen by the poor, the disposed, the criminals, the prostitutes, poets, artists and the rebels throughout this cities history.
It’s a fun romp through history and the city, travelling to places and areas known and unknown and learning some interesting aspects of the history behind those places and people. The author takes great relish in telling many of his stories, like this about a certain bar in Paris - 'La Palette' in the Introduction of the book; "It is exclusive and can be intimidating. The waiters share private jokes with regulars; to the rest of us they serve sarcasm and contempt with evident relish but no extra charge."
The legend of Genevieve saving Paris from the hordes of Attila; "But then Attila, suddenly and miraculously, turned his attention further south to the richer and more prestigious prizes that could be more easily won (cynics of the period slyly suggested that Attila's change of course was because he had been told the women of Paris were not worth raping)."
In 1408 the Provost marshal (grand prevot) had hung two university students for murder but after a lengthy court case the university won their case and the courts ordered that the two rotting corpses be conveyed to the convent of Les Mathurins to be laid to rest; "Most chilling was the punishment demanded by the university lawyer, who ordered Guillaume to kiss both students on the lips to show his contrition as the stinking bodies were taken down. The order was carried out."
A story about Catherine de Medicis; "But Catherine could be sceptical and scoffed easily at astrologers who made mistakes. 'Tis a pity he couldn't see his own future,' she remarked of one notorious charlatan who had been robbed and killed outside the city limits."
During the siege of Paris conducted by Henri IV (Henri de Navarre); "Most melancholy of all was the tale of a noblewoman, a widow, whose two children had died of hunger. Unable to buy bread, she had roasted the children with the aid of her housekeeper and over two weeks eaten them every evening, tears streaming down her cheeks. Unsurprisingly, the woman and her servant died within days."
So in conclusion this book may not be for everyone’s taste and the research may not be as thorough and as detailed as some would like but overall it was a decent and enjoyable account of a city that I love to visit and I felt I learnt a few things on the way.
It’s a fun romp through history and the city, travelling to places and areas known and unknown and learning some interesting aspects of the history behind those places and people. The author takes great relish in telling many of his stories, like this about a certain bar in Paris - 'La Palette' in the Introduction of the book; "It is exclusive and can be intimidating. The waiters share private jokes with regulars; to the rest of us they serve sarcasm and contempt with evident relish but no extra charge."
The legend of Genevieve saving Paris from the hordes of Attila; "But then Attila, suddenly and miraculously, turned his attention further south to the richer and more prestigious prizes that could be more easily won (cynics of the period slyly suggested that Attila's change of course was because he had been told the women of Paris were not worth raping)."
In 1408 the Provost marshal (grand prevot) had hung two university students for murder but after a lengthy court case the university won their case and the courts ordered that the two rotting corpses be conveyed to the convent of Les Mathurins to be laid to rest; "Most chilling was the punishment demanded by the university lawyer, who ordered Guillaume to kiss both students on the lips to show his contrition as the stinking bodies were taken down. The order was carried out."
A story about Catherine de Medicis; "But Catherine could be sceptical and scoffed easily at astrologers who made mistakes. 'Tis a pity he couldn't see his own future,' she remarked of one notorious charlatan who had been robbed and killed outside the city limits."
During the siege of Paris conducted by Henri IV (Henri de Navarre); "Most melancholy of all was the tale of a noblewoman, a widow, whose two children had died of hunger. Unable to buy bread, she had roasted the children with the aid of her housekeeper and over two weeks eaten them every evening, tears streaming down her cheeks. Unsurprisingly, the woman and her servant died within days."
So in conclusion this book may not be for everyone’s taste and the research may not be as thorough and as detailed as some would like but overall it was a decent and enjoyable account of a city that I love to visit and I felt I learnt a few things on the way.
April 10, 2014
I don't know how secret any of the book's contents are. It is a book I've been reading for many, many months. Reading it has led me to read other books and articles along the way.
May 2, 2025
An interesting and thought provoking history of Paris. Murder, massacres, mayhem, misguided monarchs and revolutions galore. The crime, brutality and ruthlessness of Kings and the class divide is huge. The author captures the famines, plagues and the independent and strong minded Parisians throughout the ages.
The book is divided into nine parts. It begins in AD 987 and concludes in 2005. Paris chapters s an enigma as Jean-Jacques Rousseau said ‘I had imagined a town as beautiful as it was large. I saw only dirty, stinking alleys, ugly black houses, a stench of filth and poverty. ‘ on arrival in Paris for the first time it can be overwhelming with the confusing metro, noise and chaotic traffic. As the author aptly describes Paris has been represented as a prison, a paradise and a vision of hell.
The violence throughout history from the Romans, Franks and the Kings is incredible. Punishments were painful and imaginative especially during the inquisition. The failed revolutions of 1789, 1830, 1848 and the 1871 commune did bring about changes albeit temporarily.
Paris is not only the Eiffel Tower which when first built was considered an eyesore, the Sacre-Coeur, Notre-Dame, the Louvre are all parts of a tapestry which is Paris. This book tells the history of Paris from the dispossessed or dangerous classes. The criminals, immigrants and sexual outsiders.
The book is fascinating with the royal flamboyance and extravagance as well as insanity. Like England France had its religious wars but unlike England the Catholics won. They also had their cultural icons with Zola, Hugo, Balzac and Manet, Monet and Rodin to mention a few. At one time Paris was the cultural capital of Europe but now shares that title with other cities.
This is a book for people visiting Paris that are interested in its bloody and turbulent history.
The book is divided into nine parts. It begins in AD 987 and concludes in 2005. Paris chapters s an enigma as Jean-Jacques Rousseau said ‘I had imagined a town as beautiful as it was large. I saw only dirty, stinking alleys, ugly black houses, a stench of filth and poverty. ‘ on arrival in Paris for the first time it can be overwhelming with the confusing metro, noise and chaotic traffic. As the author aptly describes Paris has been represented as a prison, a paradise and a vision of hell.
The violence throughout history from the Romans, Franks and the Kings is incredible. Punishments were painful and imaginative especially during the inquisition. The failed revolutions of 1789, 1830, 1848 and the 1871 commune did bring about changes albeit temporarily.
Paris is not only the Eiffel Tower which when first built was considered an eyesore, the Sacre-Coeur, Notre-Dame, the Louvre are all parts of a tapestry which is Paris. This book tells the history of Paris from the dispossessed or dangerous classes. The criminals, immigrants and sexual outsiders.
The book is fascinating with the royal flamboyance and extravagance as well as insanity. Like England France had its religious wars but unlike England the Catholics won. They also had their cultural icons with Zola, Hugo, Balzac and Manet, Monet and Rodin to mention a few. At one time Paris was the cultural capital of Europe but now shares that title with other cities.
This is a book for people visiting Paris that are interested in its bloody and turbulent history.
July 10, 2012
Two out of five stars. This was engaging, but only fitfully so; the best chapters come at the beginning and then again towards the end. But this is nothing spectacular. Hussey commits errors in his writing (for example, alleging that Madame de Maintenon collaborated on a pornographic booklet, which is laughable) and barely acknowledges how women have lived in Paris unless it is to blame them for things (i.e. Catherine de Medici) or focus on prostitution. In fact, prostitution seems to be a major fixation for him, and he constantly refers to these women as whores. Oh, and while he takes great pains to explain the reasons why eighteenth and nineteenth-century revolutions were spurred by abysmal conditions affecting the poorest classes, he refuses to acknowledge that this is the same catalyst that motivates the Black, Arab, and immigrant classes in the banlieues who have rebelled more recently. A disappointing read.
November 17, 2012
Excellent history of Paris. Don't just read it before you go. Take it with you.
December 20, 2013
Ugh. Boring, less than an inch deep, and factually wrong in many places.
July 21, 2016
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. This is an history of Paris from Roman times to the present focusing on the working classes, the revolutionary, the thieves, the homeless, the prostitutes, the students, the literary underground, and other people on the margins. So often history is told from the perspectives of the royalty, the nobles, and the borgeousie, and it's refreshing whenever one gets to read about the lives of everyday people. The sheer scope of the time period covered means that Hussey often doesn't go into a lot of detail, and there are many off-handed comments that left me intrigued and wanting to learn more about certain incidents or people. Still, as an overview, this was very interesting portrait of a city and it's people constantly in flux. It's fairly readable, although sometimes I found Hussey's style to be somewhat lacking, and there are some bizarre grammar constructs that left me shaking my head and rereading paragraphs over and over to figure out what he was trying to say. Recommended for the casual student of history and those interested in Paris.
April 2, 2008
This book was alright, but I wish I had read a standard French history instead. The topics I was really interested in (like the Revolution, Napoleon, the Commune) he seemed to gloss over, since he focused more on everyday life in Paris. Also I felt like he kept saying the same thing over and over: the Parisians kept getting screwed by their government, revolting, were put down and convinced by glitz and glamour that life was ok, then got screwed again, ad infinitum. I suppose this is true, but he didn't present it in a compelling way.
September 15, 2007
This is a remarkable biography of one of my favorite cities - Paris. What makes it unique is that the author approached it via the eyes, ears, and thoughts of all the revolutionaries as well as the subversive classes/artists who made up the city. Hussy also wrote a really good Guy Debord biography. It's kind of unique because there are not that many biographies on Debord written by a foriegner. Well, at least now there are two. I am sure there will be more in the near future.
April 16, 2017
A good social history of Paris but there is nothing secret about it. Perhaps it's simply because so much has been written about the "underbelly" of Paris and other cities that it no longer feels so "under."
February 15, 2021
Read this book to prepare for a trip that, alas, never got to be (ironically, it was scheduled for March 2020- not a good time to be in Europe!!). Nonetheless, a very fun and informative read!
September 1, 2018
This didn't get only three stars because this isn't well-written, or that it's not fun and interesting - but because it's so inconsistent and hard to follow. It purports ti be the "story of a city and its people", but can't decide which people. Mostly it seems to be the story of kings, occasionally writers, very rarely others. It both assumes a lot of prior knowledge of French history and explains the well-known at length - including things that have little specifically to do with Paris - but then passes over specifically, uniquely Parisian events like the Revolution and barricades of 1848 in mere paragraphs, ignoring the vast numbers of fascinating people who could have made for great diversions.
Basically, I can't work out the author's criteria for what to include and ignore. This lack of a clear schema means you're better off with a tourist guide for the linear narrative history, a literary guide for the cultural, and a social history for an insight into the people. This covers parts of all, none of them comprehensively enough to be fully satisfying - but well enough to make me want to find out more. From a more coherent, consistent book.
Basically, I can't work out the author's criteria for what to include and ignore. This lack of a clear schema means you're better off with a tourist guide for the linear narrative history, a literary guide for the cultural, and a social history for an insight into the people. This covers parts of all, none of them comprehensively enough to be fully satisfying - but well enough to make me want to find out more. From a more coherent, consistent book.
February 18, 2019
Three and a half years later, I have finally finished this book.
Though the timeline may make this hard to believe, I really did enjoy this. I learned so much about Parisian history, and this brought Paris’ entire messy, bloody backstory to light. I love Paris - I started this book on my first trip there and was able to go back again this year - but I’m a tourist. I don’t know the entire history, the depths of what the city has been through. But there’s just something about it.
It’s slow, but I would recommend this to my fellow francophiles. It brings great context to the City of Light, reminding us that it’s not all romance and enchantment. It’s complicated, which of course makes it all the more fascinating.
Though the timeline may make this hard to believe, I really did enjoy this. I learned so much about Parisian history, and this brought Paris’ entire messy, bloody backstory to light. I love Paris - I started this book on my first trip there and was able to go back again this year - but I’m a tourist. I don’t know the entire history, the depths of what the city has been through. But there’s just something about it.
It’s slow, but I would recommend this to my fellow francophiles. It brings great context to the City of Light, reminding us that it’s not all romance and enchantment. It’s complicated, which of course makes it all the more fascinating.
August 27, 2017
Brilliant social history of Paris from its early origins. Full of fascinating little snippets and personal histories, highly opinionated, extremely entertaining and an excellent read. Paris is one of my favourite cities, and this put a whole new slant on it. Love it.
Second read, August 2018. I read this after Alastair Horne's Seven Ages of Paris. The books are very similar, highly readable and covering a breathtaking span of history, but I enjoyed Horne's book much more. You certainly don't need to read both, and if you already have this one, there's not much point in buying the other, but if you're stuck between the two then I'd go for Seven Ages of Paris.
Second read, August 2018. I read this after Alastair Horne's Seven Ages of Paris. The books are very similar, highly readable and covering a breathtaking span of history, but I enjoyed Horne's book much more. You certainly don't need to read both, and if you already have this one, there's not much point in buying the other, but if you're stuck between the two then I'd go for Seven Ages of Paris.
December 5, 2010
I took this to the city itself to see if I could find inspiration in either. I didn't. Well, the city was okay, but the book wasn't interesting enough to even divert me on the bus from Porte Maillot to Beauvais. And that is a boring trip. The section on the war was quite interesting, but could have done with being longer, and I couldn't get a feel for life in the city regardless of which era I dipped into. Perhaps the sweep was too big, and I bet there are five hundred page tomes dedicated to wartime Paris, never mind on the history of the place from Cro-Magnon times.
June 29, 2016
I loved this book. It appealed to my love of history! While there were times when I had to research the historical context taking place beyond Paris itself, it's a great walk through the history of the city that doesn't get sidetracked by the events taking place at a larger national or international level.
January 26, 2017
It has the stuff that the French hide under the rug - deeply engrained anti-semitism and their sordid history of collaborating with Nazis.
May 28, 2023
From A.D.14 when Paris was Celtic, then named Lutetia. From the streets that were nothing but dirt and excrement to the blacktop of some of the cobbled streets in the present. From the cuisine being two varieties of rats, horses, dogs and cats to the finest cuisine in the world. Paris, the never ending revolutions and wars that brought a history of strife and starvation. The erection of the Eiffel Tower for the Worlds Exhibition, which, at the time, many Parisians called a "sepository" to the Armenians who introduced coffee to Paris. Napoleon's construction in Paris had taken place of the burned lumber made homes and shops and his battles are spoken of as well as Communism and Communards. Revolutionaries, anarchists, surrealists and Bohemians. Paris does not lack in bad politics and decadent Kings and Queens along with a host of anti- semiotics, who after seeing hallocaust survivers on the street Parisians broke down on their knees and cried their eyes out for the tortured people.This is a book of evolution, of sickness-turned-world class city that is, in a nutshell, the title of the introduction. " An Autopsy of an Old Whore"
September 11, 2022
Poorly written and edited. Full of non-sequiturs, typos, and sentences that don't really make sense. For example "In the provinces, even the meanest 'Parisians' were all too often turned away from city gates as religious lunatics and potential assassins". That kind of writing would get a C on a high school essay. Every two pages, my concentration would be broken by bad grammar and clunky sentences.
Add to this an obsession with Parisian whores and the obvious pleasure the author gets from fantasising about medieval Paris as a kind squalid and festering anarchist utopia. He seems to crave being drenched by a waste bucket thrown from the window of a 14th century hovel whilst haggling with a prostitute and witnessing someone stab a beggar. Sometimes this is almost offset by a poetic sensitivity, cleansing the palate a little. But not often enough. Sordid histories can be fun but this puts the reader in the mind of a glutton for repulsiveness. 500 pages is far too much. I'm going to put the book down and brush my teeth.
Add to this an obsession with Parisian whores and the obvious pleasure the author gets from fantasising about medieval Paris as a kind squalid and festering anarchist utopia. He seems to crave being drenched by a waste bucket thrown from the window of a 14th century hovel whilst haggling with a prostitute and witnessing someone stab a beggar. Sometimes this is almost offset by a poetic sensitivity, cleansing the palate a little. But not often enough. Sordid histories can be fun but this puts the reader in the mind of a glutton for repulsiveness. 500 pages is far too much. I'm going to put the book down and brush my teeth.
May 9, 2020
El libro es una colección de capítulos cortos sobre parte de la historia de París, recorriendo desde su origen hasta inicios del siglo XIX. El libro como tal trata de reflejar los acontecimientos importantes, pero en especial la vida de grupos de personas que construyeron la historia de la ciudad. En la cual juegan un papel muy importante la población obrera, las "clases peligrosas", en referencia a los delincuentes, prostitutas, etc. y bohemios, intelectuales, entre otros, que poblaron la ciudad. Así como a la enorme cantidad de revueltas que sucedieron en este sitio. No se trata de un libro de historia de la sociedad parisina, ni de las revueltas o los movimientos sociales que sucedieron, pues no trata de dar explicaciones profundas de los mismos. Trata de explicar que justo la población de bajos ingresos y las revueltas continuas, así como la reacción de las clase gobernante a lo mismo, fueron lo que forjaron París. Una ciudad marcada pro un espíritu subversivo y revolucionario.
June 15, 2024
If ever you feel the need to have your illusions about Paris destroyed, read this book. It seems that for most of its existence, the lack of a sewage system, and the frequent riots, pitched battles and famines/sieges leaving corpses in the streets meant Paris stank to the high heavens.
This book covers the history of Paris from pre-historic times up until the current millennium, so events are dealt with swiftly. However, rather than a dry rehashing of history textbooks, as a quote from one reviewer says on the front cover, there is indeed “a story on every page”. It gives a gossipy account of the history of Paris from the perspective of the ordinary or literary inhabitants, often using popular songs or poems to portray the atmosphere at a given time.
While no one event is dealt with in depth, it will whet your appetite to find out more on incidents that you may not have been aware of before.
This book covers the history of Paris from pre-historic times up until the current millennium, so events are dealt with swiftly. However, rather than a dry rehashing of history textbooks, as a quote from one reviewer says on the front cover, there is indeed “a story on every page”. It gives a gossipy account of the history of Paris from the perspective of the ordinary or literary inhabitants, often using popular songs or poems to portray the atmosphere at a given time.
While no one event is dealt with in depth, it will whet your appetite to find out more on incidents that you may not have been aware of before.
August 3, 2017
Having just finished this book, I have to say, I wasn't impressed. The author focused mainly on philosophical movements and the sex life of the Parisians. It got repetitive very quickly.
There was also a problem with linearity; the author would jump from one date to a future date, then back again. Commas were grossly lacking (I had to reread several sentences), and some words were either misused or misspelled.
The book was short, and, for its length, well-packed with facts. It got very annoying to look up every other person the author left hanging, however ("X died suspiciously."). The book also glossed over the lives of many important people (the author usually mentioned the sexual orientation, but not much else).
If you want to get a fairly political overview, and learn just who was gay in Paris, it's fine. It's not a book I'll be keeping to reread.
There was also a problem with linearity; the author would jump from one date to a future date, then back again. Commas were grossly lacking (I had to reread several sentences), and some words were either misused or misspelled.
The book was short, and, for its length, well-packed with facts. It got very annoying to look up every other person the author left hanging, however ("X died suspiciously."). The book also glossed over the lives of many important people (the author usually mentioned the sexual orientation, but not much else).
If you want to get a fairly political overview, and learn just who was gay in Paris, it's fine. It's not a book I'll be keeping to reread.
June 28, 2019
This well researched history does present a good history of Paris with all the adventure of counts, kings, archbishops and their politics and wars, but it focuses on common people--Parisians of all classes, with their common struggles to prosper and survive through those adventures controlled by the counts, kings and archbishops. Warning: the history also focuses on the underclasses with their sordid and R rated challenges and issues, handled frankly, factually, and tastefully. Actually, some of the R rated material spans all classes. Because of the frank presentation of R rated parts of Paris's history, and there are numerous, this history may be a bit offensive for some sensitive readers.
August 19, 2017
This is a good one-volume history of Paris, written engagingly and methodically. It doesn't quite seem to provide what it claims, though; the focus isn't as tightly on the Parisian underworld and counterculture as is claimed in the blurbs. At times the book is simply a straight-up history of French nobles and monarchs, with little underworld and counterculture to be found at all. The book is a perfectly decent one-volume, readable history of one of the world's great cities, but it's not always what it says it's going to be.
March 6, 2018
In 2006 Andrew Hussey, Head of French and Comparative Literature at the University of London Institute in Paris, published "Paris the Secret History". This book is written with a sense of humor and passion. In the book, Hussey traces the cultural history of the city of Paris from its founding 300 years BC into the early 2000's AD. The story lines, description of terrain-architectures, and discussions of cultural mores are breathtaking. It is a must read for anyone who plans to visit the city or relishes French culture. (L/P)
November 28, 2019
A fun read that would have been easier to follow with the addition of a few more maps. Perhaps they were included in the hardcover edition, but the couple in the paperback were not especially helpful. Hussey's book was wide-ranging, horizontally and vertically, touching on everything from intellectual and political history to that of vice. A number of the subjects were worthy of their own book-length treatment (some, particularly the Commune, the Resistance, and 1968, of course have been). An interesting survey and certainly a spur to additional study.
July 8, 2024
Got this for 50 cents at a used book sale. Thought I would delve into it leading up to the 2024 summer Olympics. I slogged through the first half totally, started to skim in the second half, and as i entered the 20th century chapters I opted to set it aside.
Not only because of the typos, or the egregious run-on sentences, (of which there were plenty), but based on what those far more in the know than I am have said about the book, it is riddled with inaccurate information.
To top it off, there is nothing "secret" about ths history. All seemed rather pedestrian to me.
Not only because of the typos, or the egregious run-on sentences, (of which there were plenty), but based on what those far more in the know than I am have said about the book, it is riddled with inaccurate information.
To top it off, there is nothing "secret" about ths history. All seemed rather pedestrian to me.
February 14, 2021
Been living in Paris for many years and discovered many things. I understand that for people who only pass their holidays and never really settle here this book might be not so interesting. But for Parisians it’s a good read. He doesn’t speak almost about rich people because Paris has always been for the poor, middle class, and tons of tourists. They are “the secret ingredient” of this city.
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