Parisians
by Graham Robb · first published 2010
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This is the Paris you never knew. From the Revolution to the present, Graham Robb has distilled a series of astonishing true narratives, all stranger than fiction, of the lives of the great, the near-great, and the forgotten. A young artillery lieutenant, strolling through the Palais-Royal, observes disapprovingly the courtesans plying their trade. A particular woman catches his eye; nature takes its course. Later that night Napoleon writes a meticulous account of his first sexual encounter. A well-dressed woman, fleeing the Louvre, takes a wrong turn and loses her way in the nameless streets
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If you liked this piece, a good read is, "Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris" by Graham Robb.
on “Old Paris Is No More” ↗…hurricane of 1900) and In the Garden of Beasts (about the American ambassort to 1930s Nazi Germany) Travels with Herodotus and Shah of Shas by Ryszard Kapuscinski The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum Parisians by Graham Robb
on “Ask HN: What are your favourite history books?” ↗…metro system overlays onto this. Here's a quick little visualization: https://stirring-biscotti-a978fa.netlify.app/ If you're traveling to or interested in Paris and its history, I really enjoyed "Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris" by Graham Robb. Has some good, accessible and entertaining history relating to (among other things) the construction of the metro.
on “Blaise Pascal invented fixed route public transport (2024)” ↗