Tales of Two Cities
Paris, London and the Birth of the Modern City
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Paris and London have long held a mutual fascination, and never more so than in the period 1750–1914, when they vied to be the world's greatest city. Each city has been the focus of many books, yet Jonathan Conlin here explores the complex relationship between them for the first time. The reach and influence of both cities was such that the story of their rivalry has global implications. By borrowing, imitating and learning from each other Paris and London invented the true metropolis.
Tales of Two Cities examines and compares five urban spaces—the pleasure garden, the cemetery, the apartment, the restaurant and the music hall—that defined urban modernity in the nineteenth century. The citizens of Paris and London first created these essential features of the modern cityscape and so defined urban living for all of us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An American-born historian teaching at the University of Southampton (U.K.), Conlin (The Nation's Mantelpiece) explores the complex rivalry between London and Paris from 1700 1914, when the two cities transformed into the world's pre-eminent cultural centers. Conlin examines the emergence of the English and French lifestyles and how the cities' dual ascendance played out in private and public spaces: the street, the cemetery, the apartment, the restaurant, the underworld, and the music hall. He covers achievements such as "making the night visible" with street lighting, the rise of apartment living, the popularity of public dancing, and the origin of restaurants. This social history adds up to a pleasant, colorful read, and though Conlin is mining territory that many able historians have visited before, his source materials reflect a serious mind at work. The book contains many captivating sketches and stories of the towns' emergence as two great metropolises, which today remain among the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
