McAuliffe completes her chronicle of Paris–begun with Dawn of the Belle Epoque–with this volume, similar in scope and content to her initial offering. Paris serves as the essential backdrop for a year-by-year summary of the lives, loves, and achievements of the city's academic and cultural elite. The author has a keen eye for the telling, tantalizing, and occasionally titillating detail, and she has mined a host of solid secondary works as well as printed journals and memoirs to assemble this portrait. Casual readers will be astonished at the book's dramatis personae: not only Picasso, Stravinsky, Proust, Renault, the Curies, and Gertrude Stein––all name-dropped on the cover––but also Clemenceau, Rodin, Bernhardt, Duncan, Zola, Debussy, and Matisse. All told, an astonishing outpouring of artistic ability and achievement. Scholars will find a wealth of detail that brings to life the figures of tout Paris. Like its companion volume, this second 'gossipy soufflé' will charm all who love Paris, French history, and the arts. It would make a wonderful travel companion for those Paris bound, and a delightful read for all. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All 20th-century collections.
