Customer Reviews:
 Great light read February 6, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I took this to Paris on my last visit. It's not an academic read, nor does it set out to be one. This is a great light read highly entertaining, especially if you are intending visiting the city as it brings a perspective to this long established and highly entertaining metropolis.
 Paris: The Secret History - Andrew Hussey December 20, 2007
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
In short, this a 'Horrible History' for adults. It is not history in the academic sense. It's more like biography, and owes much to Peter Ackroyd's biography of London. Hussey doesn't deal in causes, trends or ideas; his currency is anecdotes. This a big book of gory and sexy titbits from Parisian history, sorted into chronological order.
The subject matter should make for light reading, but somehow, despite the breakneck pace of the anecdotes, something goes wrong. The small print, long paragraphs, and dry, humourless prose drag the book down. Furthermore, I'm no expert on the history of Paris, but when I did know a little bit about a period I noticed factual inaccuracies. For example, Danton was with the Cordeliers Club (not the Jacobin Club), and there was only one Committee of Public Safety in the Revolution, not many.
For these reasons, this book arguably gives you less value than a Horrible History. Hussey has sacrificed depth for breathless narrative in the hope of reaching out to a wide audience, but the stream of details feels laboured and aimless. Unlike the city, 'Paris: The Secret History' fails to capture the imagination, and is barely more fun than reading academic history.
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