Paris 1789: A Guide to Paris on the Eve of the Revolution

Sightseers

by Rachel Wright, Julie Ferris (Editor)

You will need a reliable travel guide if you are to visit Paris in 1789. It's an exciting and dangerous time. Since the storming of the Bastille in July, control over Paris has slipped from King Louis XVI's grasp, and a full-fledged revolution is just around the corner. Checking under the heading "Accommodation," you'll find that while there are many rooms available for rent, it would be preferable to stay with someone wealthy enough to afford to pay the carriers who deliver the daily pail of water. "Getting around" Paris might present a challenge if you like to keep your clothes clean - the guide suggests hiring one of the many gutter-leapers to carry you on his back across the open sewers in the crowded, narrow, noisy streets. In the back of the book, intrepid young time travelers will find a fold-out map that provides a geographical setting for all the points of interest, and a special "tourist quiz" that makes learning history as much fun as taking a vacation.

Genres: History

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 1999

About the author

Rachel Wright grew up in Bermuda, England, the Seychelles, and Fiji. She used to be an actress (after gaining a degree in drama in 1982, she worked as an actress for BBC Radio and various theatre companies, including one she co-founded with a friend) but now she writes full-time. (In 1989 I produced my first children’s non-fiction book and it’s been pretty non-stop since.) Her works include You've Got Blackmail and more than 40 children’s non-fiction books.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are great.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the book unfolds with sections on how to travel, what to see and what to where, we are discover more information on how both the rich and poor alike lived in Paris. The book doesn’t address the reader assuming he or she is an aristocrat or a peasant. You are given tips on travel whether it is the suggestion of touring the city in hot air balloon if you can afford it, and the tip of getting to the breadlines early in order to get your share or go hungry. If you can't get your stagecoach through the crowded streets you can hire a “gutter leaper” a fellow citizen who would to carry you piggy back through the streets so your shoes aren’t ruined.
It’s a quick read and its interesting nontraditional format makes it an enjoyable one as well.

Read my full review at my blog The Non Fiction Manifesto
http://non-fic-manifesto.blogspot.com...

[Alaric Longward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much you cannot find in wikipedia, more suited for the kids. I got it for the map, which was useless. Not that many good maps of the Revolutionary era Paris, to be honest.

[Karthika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little book about the events before and during the French revolution