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Paris



  • The French Fascination with the Cadavers of the Bastille

    by Nicole Bauer

    The prison held a symbolic place in the minds of antiroyalists that exceeded its actual significance; the themes of gothic horror were reflected in political tracts that denounced the horrors of imprisonment there. 



  • How Paris Kicked out the Cars

    Planners and politicians used post-WWII prosperity to remake Paris for cars, making it one of the most car-saturated big cities. Recent changes led by Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo have show what can happen when priority is given to air quality and public space (though not every Parisian agrees). 



  • Pandemic Lessons From the Era of ‘Les Miserables’

    Medical historian Ed Cohen describes the 1832 cholera outbreak as "imperial blowback," as the disease arrived in Europe from their colonies. Nearly 2% of the city's population died, but the aftermath saw an increase in migration from the countryside and a flourishing of public health-oriented planning. 


  • Notre Dame: The Soul of France (Review)

    by Jeff Roquen

    Agnès Poirier's book describes the central place of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris in the city and in French history both religious and secular, and the angst provoked by its threatened destruction by fire in 2019.



  • Nazi Lockdown

    by Ronald C. Rosbottom

    The German occupation crushed ordinary life in Paris as its citizens hid from the “brown plague.”


  • "Fiction Makes a Better Job of The Truth"? Telling the Erased Story of Lucia Joyce

    by Annabel Abbs

    A historical novel exposes the complex relationship between historians and sources: "Because Lucia’s own voice had been effectively smothered, most ‘facts’ came from those later responsible for incarcerating her in a series of mental asylums and hospitals. Few sources are genuinely independent, memory is notoriously fickle, and all facts are open to interpretation."



  • Paris celebrates its liberation from Nazis, 75 years on

    Paris celebrated the American soldiers, French Resistance fighters and others who liberated the City of Light from Nazi occupation exactly 75 years ago on Sunday, unleashing an eruption of kissing, dancing, tears and gratitude.


  • The Sorrow of Watching Notre Dame Burn

    by Ed Simon

    "In this age of uncertainty, of rage, of horror, and of violence; of the decline of democracy and the heating of the planet; it can feel as if Notre-Dame’s fire is as if watching the very world itself be engulfed."


  • The American Tourist in Paris: A Retrospective

    by Lauren Jannette

    Although no longer breaking furniture, running out on checks, and throwing racist fits about the evening’s entertainment, Americans remain an integral part of Paris’s continued debates over the benefits and detriments of being one of the world’s largest tourists destinations. 



  • Sharpening Contradictions: Why al-Qaeda attacked Satirists in Paris

    by Juan Cole

    "The horrific murder of the editor, cartoonists and other staff of the irreverent satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, along with two policemen, by terrorists in Paris was in my view a strategic strike, aiming at polarizing the French and European public."