Paris Between Empires: Monarchy and Revolution 1814-1852
Closely examining the political and social life of Restoration Paris, Mansel keeps a frequently confusing scene in focus. The original French Revolution, and its Napoleonic succession, seemed overthrown for good with the return of Louis XVIII, but the king recognized that theancien regimecould not be wholly restored, especially since his own installation by the occupying Allies in 1815 was met with resentment from liberals, radicals, and Bonapartists. The tension between revolution and reaction, then, structures Mansel's narrative of the period, which he populates with the emigre nobles, journalists, and writers who flocked to the city and its salons, theaters, and art museums. This cast returned Paris to its ascendance in the cultural and sybaritic arts, while beneath the elite a proletariat formed, fated to be crushed in the 1848 revolution. Mansel affixes events to the particular streets, barricades, houses, or palaces where they occurred, and his image of the city, layered with contemporary commentary, shimmers with the skill of an author who knows Paris and this period to his fingertips. Fascinating fare for Francophiles.Gilbert TaylorCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved