Paris

This look at "Paris" for the Great Cities Through the Ages series allows young readers to discover the city from its origins as the Celtic settlement on the Ile-de-la-Cite to the magnificent modern city that became a beacon for artists and writers in the 20th century. Renzo Rossi shows how in between it was the Roman cityof Lutetia Parisiorum, an important political and cultural center during the Middle Ages, and the driving force of the French Revolution. Each "chapter" in the book is a two-page spread, where there is a brief paragraph of text and then most of the information is dispensed in the captions that accompany the photographs and illustrations. Rossi devotes most of the chapters to specific periods in the history of the city: Lutetia, Paris in the Middle Ages, Renaissance Paris, Paris in the 17th Century, Revolutionary Times, Napoleon and the Restoration, the Second Empire, the Belle Epoque, the City of Light, and 1945 to Present. Interspersed with these periods are sections devoted to specific aspects of London: Early Architectural Styles,Street Life in Paris, Beneath the City, Paris in Art, The Era of Glass and Metal, Haussmann's Open Spaces, and a Place to Meet. For each section there is usually a main illustration, such as street life in the Middle Ages or a diagram of underground Paris. But mostly there are a collection of smaller photograph and illustrations cramming a lot of information on each page. A timeline at the top of the page covers the key events that happened during the specific period being covered (there is a map of Paris next to the timeline and I am still surprised it does not show the growth of gay Paree as we go along). There is where we find out that the Egyptian obelisk from Luxor, Egypt was erected in the Place de la Concorde in 1836, the Paris Opera opened in 1875, and the old fortifications were demolished in 1921. There are a lot of acts on each page and you need to keep in mind that the chronology is not consistent from page to page since topics like Paris art will cover several centuries worth of developments while other periods usually represent a half-century of less. Fortunately the Index on the back page is pretty detailed so that students assigned to research a particular aspect of Paris should be able to find what they want within these pages, but if it does not easily fall into the categories defined by the chapter it might be difficult. The Great Cities Through the Ages series from Enchanted Lion Books is dedicated to exploring the colorful histories and striking characteristics of some of greatest cities in the world. In addition to Paris the other initial volumes are London, New York and (surprise) Venice (you were all expecting Rome, admit it). The strength is that it does provide a series of looks at the same city over time, although I would certainly like to see more maps or illustrations that give a sense for how the city was growing and changing over time. But there is still a