City of Light, City of Shadows

A top historian explores the multifaceted history of Paris’s Belle Époque, a period known for its cultural achievements and iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Sacré-Cœur Basilica. Beneath the era’s elegance, the city grappled with social unrest, epidemics, political extremism, and violence, highlighting a complex and often turbulent time in Paris’s history. This engaging account reveals the contrasts between Paris’s luminous cultural scene and its darker undercurrents of conflict and upheaval.