Mary McAuliffe

Paris, City of Dreams

Napoléon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Creation of Paris.

Paris, City of Dreams traces the transformation of the City of Light during Napoleon III's Second Empire into the beloved city of today.

Paris, City of Dreams traces the transformation of the City of Light during Napoleon III's Second Empire into the beloved city of today. Together, Napoleon III and Haussmann completely rebuilt Paris in less than two decades — a breathtaking achievement made possible not only by the emperor's vision and Haussmann's determination but by the regime's unrelenting authoritarianism. McAuliffe follows the lives of artists such as Manet, Morisot, and Monet, as well as writers such as Zola, Flaubert, and Baudelaire, while from exile, Victor Hugo continued to fire literary broadsides at the emperor he detested.