Paris to the past : traveling through French history by train / Ina Caro.

Title:

Author:

Caro, Ina.

ISBN:

9780393078947

(hardcover)

0393078949

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication Info:

New York : W.W. Norton & Co., c2011.

Description:

xi, 381 p. : maps ; 25 cm.

Personal Subject:

Caro, Ina-Travel-France.

Subject(s):

Railroad travel -- France.

Historic sites -- France.

Holds: Copies (not including on-order items):

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Call Number	Shelf Location	Status	Item Holds
Searching... East Library	Book	944. C292P	Nonfiction	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

In one of the most inventive travel books in years, Ina Caro invites readers on twenty-five one-day train trips that depart from Paris and transport us back through seven hundred years of French history. Whether taking us to Orl?ans to evoke the visions of Joan of Arc or to the Place de la Concorde to witness the beheading of Marie Antoinette, Caro animates history with her lush descriptions of architectural splendors and tales of court intrigue. "[An] enchanting travelogue" (Publishers Weekly), Paris to the Past has become one of the classic guidebooks of our time.

Author Notes

Ina Caro , author of the best-selling The Road from the Past , is an authority on medieval and modern French history. She lives in New York with her husband, the acclaimed biographer Robert A. Caro.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The French rail system makes the country and its history a day-tripper's delight in this enchanting travelogue. Historian Caro (The Road from the Past: Traveling Through French History) recounts daylong outings from her Paris base camp to points near, by Metro, or far, by high-speed train. French architecture and civilization unfold through the buildings and towns she visits: churches progress from the first Gothic cathedral at St.-Denis to the secular temple of the Pantheon; grim medieval fortresses give way to airy Loire chateaus and splendiferous baroque palaces. Writing with a keen eye for the design and atmospherics of these places and their surroundings (especially local restaurants), Caro makes them way stations on a sprightly tour of French history, regaling readers with piquant stories of the people who built, conquered, and remodeled them. Almost despite itself, the book is a seductive evocation of the ancien regime: aristocrats were rapacious brutes, Caro allows, but she can't resist their castles, tastes, and sexual intrigues. ("'Kill him! Here, take my garters and strangle the wretch,'" was the sentence Marguerite de Valois pronounced to one lover who murdered another.) The result is a charming, rapturous guide to la Belle France that tells you where to go-and why. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Travel writer Caro, an authority on medieval and modern French history, effectively combines the genres of travelogue and general history in this informative and delightful work. She proposes 25 one-day journeys on either the Paris Metro or TGV (high-speed intercity trains) to see various places whose historical significance she describes. The excursions are presented in historical chronology, from the twelfth century to the nineteenth. Notable jaunts within Paris and environs take us to the Louvre, Versailles, and various sites of the Napoleonic era. For Orleans and then Rouen, we receive a primer in the career of Joan of Arc. Other day trips are to magnificent châteaus in the Loire valley and to see (and have finely explained) the architectural innovations of Gothic cathedrals. Not a comprehensive, Michelin-type guide, since some very interesting outlying regions are neglected, but still a superior resource for tourists in France.--Freeman, Ja. Copyright 2010 Booklist

Library Journal Review

While researching her previous book, The Road from the Past: Traveling Through History in France, Caro discovered that a great deal of French history could be visited by train from Paris in 90 minutes or fewer. Her newest book is both a travelog and a history written in a conversational style, which makes for an excellent jumping-off point for any traveler interested in French history. Caro summarizes 700 years of French history and combines it with excellent descriptions of examples of architecture from each period, from well-known sites like Versailles to such gems as the cathedral at Chartres. She also recommends her favorite restaurants and lets readers know which sites are best left alone. Descriptions of train stations, metro lines, and regional transit trains are enough to get one going, but many may find an additional guidebook helpful in locating accommodations and particular stations. VERDICT While lacking hard travel details, the book combines historical information and delight in travel in a way that renders it an excellent guide for those traveling to France, whether by plane or armchair.-Sara Miller, Atlanta-Fulton P.L. Syst., Roswell, GA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

List of Maps	p. xv
Prologue: Two Love Affairs	p. 3
Part 1 The Middle Ages: Cathedrals and Fortresses
1 p. 23
2 Laon: Early Gothic	p. 48
3 Chartres: The High Gothic Cathedral at Chartres	p. 54
4 The Coronation Ceremony at the Cathedral of Reims	p. 68
5 The Louvre: A Late-Twelfth-Century Fortress	p. 86
6 Angers: Blanche of Castile's Early-Thirteenth-Century Fortress	p. 95
7 Sainte-Chapelle in Paris	p. 111
8 Vincennes: A Fortress of the Hundred Years War	p. 121
9 Joan of Arc: 1429 and the End of the Hundred Years War at Orleans	p. 128
10 Rouen: Joan of Arc and Monet	p. 142
Part 2 The Renaissance Cities and Castles
11 Tours: The Rebirth of Cities After the Hundred Years War	p. 157
12 Blois: A Sixteenth-Century Renaissance Chateau	p. 170
13 Francis I and the Renaissance at Fontainebleau	p. 183
14 Henry IV in Paris: The Hotel de Sens, the Place des Vosges, and the Luxembourg Gardens	p. 200
15 The Siege of La Rochelle and the End of the Reformation in France	p. 213
Part III The Age of Louis XIV Seventeenth-Century France
16 Magical Vaux-le-Vicomte	p. 231
17 Versailles	p. 244
18 The Secret Castle of Maintenon	p. 254
Part IV The Coming of the French Revolution Paris in the Eighteenth Century
19 Parisian Sights: Palais-Royal, Hotel Carnavalet, Hotel de Soubise, École Militaire, the Panthéon, Place de la Concorde	p. 267
20 The Petit Trianon of Madame de Pompadour and Marie-Antoinette	p. 301
21 The Conciergerie	p. 309
Part V The Empire and Restoration The Bourgeois Century
22 Napoleon as Consul at Malmaison	p. 317
23 Napoleon at Compiégne	p. 319
24 The Restoration (1815-1848) at Chantilly	p. 333
Coda: My Favorite Emperor and Me	p. 345
Acknowledgments	p. 351
Source Notes	p. 353
Index	p. 363

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