Mary McAuliffe
Dawn of the Belle Epoque
The Paris of Monet, Zola, Bernhardt, Eiffel, Debussy, Clemenceau, and Their Friends
Dawn of the Belle Epoque is the story of those extraordinary years from 1871–1900, when Paris emerged from military defeat, siege, and a bloody uprising into the full flower of the Belle Epoque.
A humiliating military defeat by Bismarck's Germany, a brutal siege, and a bloody uprising — Paris in 1871 was a shambles, and the question loomed: could this extraordinary city even survive? By 1900, Paris had recovered and the Belle Epoque was in full flower, but the decades between were difficult, marked by struggles between republicans and monarchists, the Republic and the Church, and an ongoing economic malaise, darkened by a rising tide of virulent anti-Semitism. Yet these same years also witnessed an extraordinary blossoming in art, literature, poetry, and music, with the Parisian cultural scene dramatically upended by revolutionaries such as Monet, Zola, Rodin, and Debussy, even while Gustave Eiffel was challenging architectural tradition with his iconic tower.
Praise
"McAuliffe brings the Belle Epoque vividly to life, weaving together the stories of artists, writers, scientists, and politicians who made Paris the center of the world."
"A richly detailed portrait of Paris at its most creative and turbulent, told through the lives of the remarkable people who shaped it."