Haussmann: His Life and Times, and the Making of Modern Paris (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: throne hall, rente foncière, Théâtre Français, Hôtel de Ville, Council of State, Second Empire (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The notorious city planner for Napol on III, and prefect of the Seine region, Baron Georges-Eug ne Haussmann turned Paris from a still medieval urban area to a triumphant imperial city Haussmann makes New York's Robert Moses look timid by comparison. Haussmann believed in cutting across straight lines for wide boulevards, no matter what was standing in the way. He drove tens of thousands of poor residents out of the city's center and destroyed many ancient sites. Yet Paris did not follow obediently according to Haussmann's plans, and press campaigns, Carmona shows, finally made the public reject his work. In four main sections, Carmona, a professor of urban studies at the Universit Paris IV-Sorbonne (who has written untranslated biographies of historical figures like Queen Marie de M dicis and Cardinal Richelieu), provides a reliable survey in academic prose of the rich source material available about Haussmann. In a utilitarian rather than elegant translation, this new book can get lost in some fairly tedious detail, but it hits all the necessary marks and then some, showing, for instance, that for all his imperial obsessions, even Napoleon III was not enamored of the giant radiating grands boulevards that make Paris so terrifying for pedestrians today. (June) Forecast: This book's judiciously chosen bibliography (of titles mostly in French) is sure to aid further research, although it omits the main English-language study currently in print, David Jordan's Transforming Paris: The Life and Labors of Baron Haussmann (Free Press), an informative political bio. Further English-language studies of Haussmann date back 30 years to David H. Pinckney's Napoleon III and the Rebuilding of Paris and Anthony Sutcliffe's The Autumn of Central Paris.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Comprehensive, readable, and meticulously researched, this is a sympathetic yet balanced biography of the architect of modern Paris. Carmona (Sorbonne) tells the story of Haussmann's life and career through the prism of 19th-century European political, social, and economic history. He explains how the personal and political collaboration between Haussmann, who was the prefect of the Seine department, and Emperor Napoleon III facilitated the transformation of Paris from a medieval to a modern city. He explains in sharp analytical detail the vision and principles that guided both men, an analysis that will make this book of interest to students of urban architecture and planning as well as to French historians. Carmona is also frank in explaining why his subject remains so controversial. Autocratic and at times imprudent, he was seen by contemporary opponents as insensitive both to the "deportation of the poor" and to the class segregation that resulted from his ambitious grand plans. Nonetheless, Carmona concludes that his "authoritarian, pragmatic, and efficient" personality was necessary in planning and executing such a visionary project of urban transformation. Recommended for academic libraries and specialized collections. [For a view of Haussmann's role in modern Paris that is more about the city than the man, see David P. Jordan's Transforming Paris. Ed.] Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., N.
- Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher (May 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156663427X
• ISBN-13: 978-1566634274
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #302,008 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #24 in

  Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Communities

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Take a gamble and love it, May 25, 2002

By	L. P. D. Heinen (Netherlands) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Recently, I was looking for a book about Georges-Eugene Haussmann because of a long time interest in Paris, and when you come to speak of how it developed, that is a name that you just cannot ignore. The book hasn't been out for so long, so I took a gamble in buying it (no reviews were posted pretty much anywhere).
The first part of the book is about Haussmann and how he climbed up the ladder in the civil service (without losing sight of any of the cultural or historical background), when the following parts of the book focus more on Haussmann's time in Paris and the changes he made there (what it should be about). The only comment you can give on this part is that the maps in the back of the book are not enough to understand the bigger picture. I don't know whether this should be included in the book or whether the writer should have recommended the reader to buy a detailed plan de paris. He didn't say that so that's the star that's missing, but short of that, I think it's the perfect book you can buy about Baron Haussmann, his plans to change Paris and the cultural circumstances surrounding it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine balance between biography and history, June 3, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Baron Haussman was the famous 'architect' of modern Paris and has been little covered in history: enter Carmona, a biographer who sets the architect's life against the backdrop of 19th-century European society and history. A fine balance between biography and history is created in a survey of Haussmann's involvement in civic life as an administrator, and his influence on Paris politics and structures.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars HAUSSMANN..NAPOLEON III PREFECT OF THE SEINE, December 22, 2007

By	Shannon Deason "SchylarRex" (Houston) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Wow what power this guy had, Napoleon III intrusted him with a total makeover of Paris, a Herculean undertaking, which cost thousands their homes and lost Paris much history. Nobody, save Robert Moses, has ever transformed a city like Haussmann did Paris, and at least Haussmann had taste, unfortunitely for New York, Moses was a philistine. This book gives the reader a real history of the man and his motivations. I find it most interesting that the real reason for the broad blvds Haussmann was so famously known for was to quell riots and herd the people into the rond ponts and squares, ingenious really..ironically Napoleon III was run out of town on a rail and he never really got to put his plan into action..later the Nazi's did..ah leave it to the Germans to take advantage of good engineering.