Dawn of the Belle Epoque: The Paris of Monet, Zola, Bernhardt, Eiffel, Debussy, Clemenceau, and Their Friends

Vive la France! What a book. This fascinating book deals with life in Paris in its political, social, fine arts and literary worlds from 1870 to the beginning of the new century in 1900. The author is Dr. Mary McAuliffe who holds a doctorate degree from the University of Maryland. Inside this easy to read and endlessly scintillating history work we learn about everyone from Gustave Eiffel and his masterpiece the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and such crucial events as the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71; the communard revolt and the infamous Dreyfus Affair. The most interesting sections of the book for this reviewer were the insightful sketches of impressionist artists Monet, Manet, Pissaro, Degas, Pissaro, Degas and Berthe Marisot. Sculptor Rodin is covered as well as such musical masters as Debussy, Ravel, Faure, Satie. Great authors such as Zola, and Victor Hugo also receive many pages of biographical profiles. We see how their lives intersected and how Paris became the intellectual and artistic capital of the world This book would serve well in a course on the Belle Epopue or can be read with pleasure by the solitary reader. Excellent!

My headline says it all. However, let me add that Ms. McAuliffe tells her story through the eyes of the historical people who lived through this era. The Paris Commune, the 1889 World Exposition, the Dreyfus Affair...Bernhardt, Clemenceau, Debussy, Eiffel, Monet, Morisot, Ravel, Renoir, Zola--they're all here. You'll read the words of the characters, understand their thoughts and actions, and feel as if you are living day to day with them. Immediately upon finishing this book, I Kindled its volume II: "Twilight of the Belle Epoque," which picks things up where this book left off. I am an avid reader of history, including French history, and this book is worth your time and money.

This book is an excellent depiction of la Belle Epoque in a story-telling kind of style. You read it as if you are seeing history unfold while learning about different historical figures' lives.I would say that is a poor choice of illustrations, ( though they are beautiful) , and the ones that are there are out of order ( or so it appears). However, with the help of google, it is not a problem to find the pieces to which she is referring in art, music, etc. This flaw doesnt take away from the story buy would hace been a happy bonus!I am still very glad I bought this book! The way the information is given makes history come alive!I wouldn't have missed reading this book for all the world!

This book tells the story an era largely through mini biographies of the many fascinating characters. It's a good way to tell a good story. My only quarrel is that the author jumps from story to story, usually spending a page or two on one person before moving on to the next story, and then returning to each story throughout the book. At times this just got frustrating. They Dreyfus story, for example, is well told, but it's told in 2-3 page segments constantly broken up by episodes about the other characters. But the writing is good and the stories are interesting. Eventually I got used to the jumping around and liked the book enough that I'm now reading the second volume.

Dawn of the Belle Époque has a cast of hundreds, but because many of them are well known, including Zola, Monet, Marie Curie, Gustave Eiffel, Debussy, and Sarah Bernhardt, it's not hard to keep track of them. Details of individual lives are reported, I learned for instance that Degas was petulant, conservative and stubborn, but the book also has a broader scope. Almost every year from 1870 to 1900 has its own chapter, covering the politics, personalities, mood and culture of Paris as it moved toward the new century. While some aspects of the Belle Époque were not so belle/beautiful, notably the Dreyfus affair, it's a fascinating era. A hundred years after the French Revolution, France was still deeply divided. Republican heirs of the revolution clashed with anarchists, and they both brawled, sometimes literally, with citizens who wanted a powerful Catholic Church and a return to rule by the monarchy or an heir of Napoleon. The back of the book has sources notes and a bibliography.

I am only half-way through Mary McAuliffe's Dawn of the Belle Epoque, and I am enjoying it immensely. This is a well written, detailed, historically enhanced, and timely account of one of 19th century's artistic epochs and a chronicle of its genesis. McAuliffe captures the spirit and pulse of the age, weaving in and out of of historical flow events, juicy biographical sketches of the likes of Victor Hugo--albeit in his last years--Monet, Manet, Zola, Degas, Rodin, Sarah Bernhardt, not to mention prominent politicians and scientists, like Georges Clemenceau and Marie Curie. Her narrative style manages to link all those in one vast canvas, but doing so with the assured hand of an art historian who also know Paris and its intimate secrets like the back of her hand. Marvelous read that will enchant not only art historians but common readers who share in her travelogue through political turmoils on French soil as the backdrop for a fascinating look of the lives and works of its most prominent artists.

I had hoped for more specific information from this book on the Belle Epoque, it got its name, how it was perceived at the time, what part did France play in a worldwide Gilded Age.This book is in almanac format, following a dozen or more of the most famous people of that time. The information given is a little light and in some cases repetitive (for example, we're told three or more times that Marie Curie worked in a primitive shed at her university...we aren't told very much about her accomplishments beyond her discovery of two elements: polonium and radium) or incomplete (here the Dreyus affair isn't really resolved anywhere in the text, time simply seems to march on).This book seems more suited as travel guide

Having lived in Paris, I had some knowledge of the era which made the city recognisable today. This book brilliantly and entertainingly filled in the gaps, which turned out to be much wider than I knew. Names of streets, buildings and monuments jumped to life.

fascinating weaving of the politics, art and music worlds in Paris in the last 3 decades of the 20thc in Paris. Full of facts and mini biographies. Certainly a very good introduction to what was going on in Paris across sections of society and shows how different people and happenings are linked.Unfortunately the book would have benefited from more close editing. Very readable

Ein interessantes Buch, - intensiv recherchiert geschrieben, das auch durchaus Wissenswertes birgt und nicht nur der puren Unterhaltung dienen muss. Kurze und kurzweilige Kapitel, schwarzweiss Fotografien nach diesen, und ein schönes Buch mit angenehmem Papier. Bin sehr glücklich mit diesem Kauf.

This was a most enjoyable read about an outpouring of extraordinary ideas in an era and place that I thought I knew something about.

McAuliffe's book is wonderful. She has obviously done her homework which I always appreciate. Too, she writes in an easy, chatty style that brings her very familiar characters alive.