The Thumbnail Book Reviews

by John Q McDonald --- 15 February 2013

The Greater Journey

Americans in Paris

by David McCullough

Paris. City of Lights. City of Love and Romance. City of Art and Beauty. Perhaps it is all of these because of centuries of tourist sales pitches. But it is a beautiful city, a complex city, and one with a turbulent history as one of the capitols of the world. In the 20th century, famous American expatriate authors and artists made their careers and whiled away their youth in Paris after World War 1. In the 19th century, too, the advanced forward-looking culture of Paris served as a fertile ground for the education of many Americans with the means to travel there. The 1800s witnessed a vast arc of technological history, from slow sailing ships to luxurious steamers, from months-long snail mail to their equivalent of email, the telegraph, at least partly invented there. American artists, politicians, writers, doctors and inventors went from this still-young country, back to Paris to discover the very latest in cultural and technological advancement. By the end of the century, it was Americans like Thomas Edison who brought back the latest to Paris.

This engaging and sprawling book, by a prize winning author, tells the tale of Americans discovering Paris and being enriched by the cultural and artistic ferment that it offered. It opens with some of the early journeys in that century, when adventurous people from this young republic would sail across to Europe on cargo ships that carried a few passengers in spartan conditions. We see Paris through their eyes, familiar with the small new cities in America, arriving in a great capitol. Men such as Charles Sumner found a progressive political environment they could bring back to America in the days before (and, indeed, to help precipitate) the Civil War. Samuel F. B. Morse was a well regarded painter who created his greatest work as a giant catalogue painting at the Louvre, where many artists copied great works. His friendship with James Fenimore Cooper energized both men, and still his greatest achievement might have been his work on the telegraph, years later. There were the sensations of America, the exotic land and people of this country and the splash they made in Paris, including brilliant musicians, native American tribesmen, and even General Tom Thumb. But history wasn't frozen in Paris, either, and this century brought many changes, from Napoleon to the various republics and empires that ensued, along with the brutal days of the siege of Paris in 1870, and the Commune of 1871. It was during the siege that an American diplomat remained behind, while many others fled, and helped countless people survive the dire conditions as the seige dragged on. But, as normalcy returned, so did the art and culture. Painters like Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargeant, and Robert Henri all flourished there. And sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who did some of his best work in Paris, though it is displayed in America, statues of Admiral Farragut and General Sherman in New York.

This is a sprawling book, with countless historical and artistic figures from both sides of the Atlantic. McCullough's historical research, apparently including countless journals, diaries and letters of the people in question, is exhaustive and remarkable in its immediacy. There may be figures only touched upon, or neglected here, but one wonders if that isn't because the primary material was lacking for those. This author is a prize-winner for a reason. His writing is engaging in a way that makes the reader wish he could be on those ships, with those people, crossing to a new and exciting land, to learn, study, practice, to eat and be merry, to bring back the treasures of that city of light to a new and turbulent America. Highly recommended.

[Mail John][To List]

Also by McCullough: [Mornings on Horseback]