If Helen of Troy was the face that launched 1,000 ships then Paris is the city that launched tens of thousands of books.
Long before I first went to Paris I immersed myself in reading about her. Many of my favorites focus on Les Années Folles-the 1920’s –stamped by writers like Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Joyce; painters and sculptors like Picasso, Brancussi, Chagall & Soutine, the Lesbian league including Sylvia Beach, Nathalie Barney, Janet Flanner, Djuna Barnes and photographers Man Ray, Gisele Freund and Berenice Abbot and African-American entertainers Bricktop and Josephine Baker who found refuge from racism.
The following is a personally edited selection of classic books from my library that have been essential to my understanding of Paris and many contemporary titles that grasp the essence of France.
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