Paris: A Short History

A concise history of Paris and the great events and personalities, from prehistory to the present, that have shaped its unique cultural legacy.

Paris has long been celebrated as a place of style, wit and sensuality. In this deft and broad-ranging narrative, Jeremy Black demonstrates that the history of Paris is about more than a city: it is the history of a culture, a society and a state that has impacted the rest of the world through centuries of changing fortunes.

Black explores how a humble Gallic capital grew into a flourishing medieval city full of spectacular palaces and cathedrals. He depicts the opulent courts of Louis XIV and XV and the Revolution that tore French society apart; the Belle Époque and the destruction of World Wars I and II, leading us on to the Paris of today: one of the most iconic cities in the world.

Review

'An invitation to explore, to walk the city and discover hidden secrets' - Alan Forrest

'As a Parisian – whose family lived there for more than a century – and as an historian, I can only be impressed by how Jeremy Black has managed to grasp the spirit of Paris, not only in its glorious past, but also in the recent years, with their complex challenges' - Frédéric Saffroy, University of Lille

'For the enquiring tourist wishing to know more about Paris’s rich past this makes for the perfect read' - All About History

About the Author

Jeremy Black is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Exeter and the author or editor of over seventy books, including France: A Short History and The History of the Second World War in 100 Maps.