Paris: The Biography of a City

This is a very good history of Paris. It is well-written and keeps you engaged throughout. It's not the sort of history that you have to force yourself to keep reading. If you have any interest at all in Paris you will enjoy reading this very much. One of the techniques he uses, that I really enjoyed, is that he includes highlighted sections where he steps out of the strictly chronological description of what happened when and goes into a deeper description of a particular place, building, or incident. This breaks up the book just enough to keep it from getting tedious, and fills in details just when you want them. The only complaint that I have is that he is very sketchy on details of what was going on in the rest of the world. Of course, this is a history or Paris, so how much time should he really spend on what was happening elsewhere? Still, it would have been useful to have a little more context; just enough to be better able to place the significant events in Paris with what was happening at the same time in the rest of the world. Another comment (not a complaint, really), is that I found it absolutely necessary to have an overview map of Paris handy while I was reading. He seems to assume a fair degree of familiarity with the layout of the city. In particular, he frequently describes where something is only by mentioning which Arrondisment it's in, or what major cross streets are nearby. If you know Paris well enough to place things this way, more power to you. I don't, so I found myself frequently referring to a map. But these are minor criticisms. Overall, this book is excellent and more than worth the cover price for anyone with any interest in Paris.