Eiffel's Tower: And the World's Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, Theartists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count

Jill Jonnes new book Eiffel's Tower is not just a biography of Gustave Eiffel, or the incredible tale of the building of one of the world's most magnificent architectural wonders, it is so much more. The setting is 1899 Paris, it is the time for creating the magic for the new World's Fair. Jonnes begins her story in 1897 by informing the reader of Eiffel's dream and plan, to use the tower as the centerpiece of the upcoming fair two years hence. This is an absorbing story of how one man fought against many people who were opposed to the building of the tower, and how he persevered to win the prestigious slot to use his dream tower to be the showcase of the future Paris World's Fair. Revealing to us the engineering feat of what it took to design and pull off this ingenious iron marvel, the book is simply fascinating. I learned a lot of how the Eiffel Tower was constructed and of the many talents and physical demands of the men who strived to make Eiffel's dream come true. Interesting too, are the little biographical tidbits that the author intersperses around the long lived years of Gustave's life, and of his many other astounding achievements. Eiffel had his hand in other major engineering projects around the world that readers will certainly recognize, never realizing he had been involved with their development. As the Eiffel tower slowly soars skyward, the author begins to pull together various stories of the menagerie of famous and prominent people, that will be exhibiting and entertaining the many millions of tourists who will flood Paris with their enthusiasm to see the newest wonders of the world. Alternating between Eiffel's daily setbacks and conquests involving the erection of the tower, are delightful snippets of enchanting characters such as Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, Thomas Edison, Charles Otis of Otis Elevator fame, struggling French Impressionist painters such as Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and American artist James Whistler. Jonnes paints an evocative panoramic picture of what it was like to bring the World Fair's exhibits to fruition. The Biographical sketches of Annie Oakley and Thomas Edison were to me very captivating as we learn many more interesting facts about each of their lives and talents that I doubt most people are aware of. I thought the author did a sensational job of developing the story of Paris' Victorian year of extravagance, giving the reader a fun and informative book of mechanical marvels, innovative scientists, inventors and engineers, and outlandish artists and prominent celebrities that at the time, dazzled every household around the globe. Eiffel's Tower was an engaging and delightful read that will be enjoyed by all lovers of history, Victorian era fans, World's fair enthusiasts and especially by all engineers and inventors. To view Paul Gauguin's Tahiti Paintings, to see Edison's new phonograph, to listen the blood curdling hoop and holler of the American red Indians of Buffalo Bill's Wild W

When Gustave Eiffel built his famous tower in Paris for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, he fully expected it to be a temporary monument. It was to outlast the exhibition, but for only twenty years, whereupon it would be demolished. In _Eiffel's Tower: And the World's Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count_ (Viking), historian Jill Jonnes shows that part of the reason the tower was to be temporary was that it was not universally appreciated. It was an ugly eyesore, the critics claimed, "an inartistic ... scaffolding of crossbars and angled iron." As the foundation was being dug, artists and intellectuals (like composer Charles Gounod and author Guy de Maupassant) signed their names to an angry protest letter which called the structure a "dizzily ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a black and gigantic factory chimney, crushing [all] beneath its barbarous mass." It was a tower "which even commercial America will not have." The tower proved popular, however, and when the twenty year mark rolled around, Eiffel was glad to be using it as a scientific station, and to be able to claim that it was still needed in that role. He had convinced the French military to use it as a radio antenna in 1903 (but had had to pay for the telegraphy unit himself). When World War One came, any controversy about its permanence was over, since it was essential as a viewing tower and communications post. Jonnes's lively and funny book has a history of the building of the tower and its troubled reputation and construction, but is also about the fair for which it was built, an epochal gathering of notables that Jonnes profiles here. It is hard to imagine Paris without its tower, but the other buildings of the exhibition are long gone, as are the exhibitors, and this book is a welcome recreation of the event. Eiffel had entered the new field of railroad engineering, and was adept at building complicated bridges and aqueducts. His tower (_Tour en Fer de Trois Cents Mètres_) beat out entries including the gigantic replica of a guillotine (the exposition was to celebrate the centennial of the Revolution). The tower was finished on time for the opening of the exposition, but the elevators were not, and for the first three weeks, if you wanted to get to the top, you took the stairs. You could go to the viewing platform, and if you were famous, you could get invited to Eiffel's own aerie apartment, a suite of rooms with settees and a piano (on which the composer Gounod, who had campaigned against the tower, was graciously invited to play). The tower was the anchor for the Paris Exposition, and it is the anchor for Jonnes's book as well. Jonnes has wonderful stories of those who exhibited, performed, or visited the tower and the fair. Among the most famous of the personalities here was Buffalo Bill Cody (or _Guillaume Buffalo_), who started an extremely successful European tour in Paris. He brought real I

The story of the construction of the Eiffel Tower, France's best-known symbol, is one of fascinating internal debate and eventual triumph. That it exists today as a beacon for Paris (and that it even still stands!) is as remarkable as the years it took to build, coupled with the World's exposition that took place at its feet. The Paris fair of 1889 was the first of its kind. Electricity was in the air, but electricity, that new "invention", was clearly one of the drawing cards as the fair was lit up at night and the Eiffel Tower shone brightly. Author Jill Jonnes has woven together the disparate and colorful aspects of the fair during the six months it went on....from Eiffel's woes in getting the tower constructed, to Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill Cody, who were two of the main stars with Cody's Wild West show. But it was Thomas Edison whom the people lauded most...and his new phonograph wowed them by the thousands. Eiffel's critics were near and far but his perseverance won the day. The side stories in Jonnes's book create an almost mythical addition to the the tower, itself. The construction phases she tells about are captivating, right down to the new Otis elevators. This may have been a French "exposeé" but the Americans were center stage, even buying up many of the French paintings on display and having them hauled back across the Atlantic. Yet it is when one really gets off the ground floor, literally, that the book begins to charm. People had never been up that high before and the wonderment of seeing Paris and points afar are beautifully described by the author. She creates a sense that the reader is really there....even relating the menus at the restaurants in the tower. The sights and the smells are intoxicating. The Eiffel Tower was supposed to have been in place for twenty years and then torn down, but by 1909 it had become such a major attraction that the powers that were, decided to let it stand for another five years. Of course, the rest is history, as they say. I highly recommend this wonderful book by Jill Jonnes... the narrative is crisp, the detail rich and the history incomparable.

This lively and entertaining book is obviously extensively researched. Using newspaper articles, interviews, letters, and so forth, the author lets the reader see events unfold as those who lived at the time saw them. The book covers the details of the building of the Eiffel Tower as well as the doings of famous people who attended the 1889 Paris World's Fair. The book has nice photos illustrating the building of the tower, showing famous people who attended the world's fair, and scenes from the fair. Some untranslated French is used in the book, but I got the point even though I don't know French. Two of my family members were also interested in this book, so we read it aloud. Reviewer Two thought the start of the book was a bit slow (while we were being introduced to so many people). However, once we got to know the characters, he thought the book was one of the most interesting books he'd read in a long time. Reviewer Three enjoyed the whole book except the epilogue where we're told what happened to these people after the Fair. She was sad to hear what happened to most of them after their high point at the fair since many didn't have happy endings. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the building of the Eiffel Tower or in what happened at the 1889 Paris World's Fair. Also, history buffs interested in technology would probably enjoy this book. Review also posted at Different Time, Different Place Book Reviews

During the restoration of the Statue of Liberty some years ago, I supervised several museum projects relating to its history and construction, which attracted me to the life and work of the famous French engineer, Gustave Eiffel. Everyone knows that his company designed and built the Eiffel Tower, but few know that they were also responsible for the internal support structure of America's most famous symbol. The builder of a number of remarkable railroad viaducts including the magnificent Garabit bridge, Eiffel immortalized himself with the unprecedented construction of the 300 meter tower, known to all the world as the Effel Tower. So, when any books appear on the market relating to Eiffel, I feel compelled to have it. Such was true when I came across Jill Jonnes' newest publication, "Eiffel's Tower," I bought it. And from the day it arrived as I perused the first few pages, I found it utterly irresistible. Confronted with the life of a very complex personality and a long list of masterful achievements as is the case with Eiffel, Jonnes sensibly keeps her focus on the building of the tower as the centerpiece of the 1889 Paris Exposition, but sets it in the context of the many other fascinating individuals whose lives and activities--at least for a time--revolved around the tower. As the tower gradually rises to the heavens in the face of mounting controversy and public criticism, it serves as a backdrop to a veritable who's who of characters, including Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Thomas Alva Edison, Rosa Bonheur, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and James McNeill Whistler, whose various adventures are played out in its ever-extending shadow. Jonnes' well-researched account does not ignore the engineering aspects of the Tower's construction, such as the frustrating problems with the installation of the elevator system, but she knows the right moment to pull away and pick up on any one of the several story-lines that gradually evolve throughout the book. As history, it has the taste and feel of really good fiction. But don't expect a dry historical kind of ending, which in so many cases, merely . . . .ends. "Eiffel's Tower" concludes in triumph and tragedy with the completion of the tower to world-wide praise and recognition on all sides (well, almost), followed by the Panama Canal disaster which fell heavily on the shoulders of Eiffel. Highly recommended.