The Greater Journey

[Joanne]

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris

5 stars

This a story, actually a lot of stories, of Americans in Paris from 1830 til 1900. I enjoyed that the book was cut into parts for the time periods. And each part of the book introduced new people. Before reading this I knew very little about the rebellions in France during this time. I think the author did a really great job of not just talking of the Americans that came for medical lessons, or painting and the arts, but he gave you a marvelous view of what living there was like during that time.

A lot of the reviewers on GR did not like the things I mention above, I suppose it is all a matter of taste. I learned a lot by reading it, so it got 5 stars from me!

[DianeMP]

I read this book several years ago and loved it! It tells of a time before the "Lost Generation" expatriates who abandoned their lives in America for a life in post WWI Paris, France. Before F. Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein came J. Sargent
Singer and Mary Cassatt, American artists inspired by the French masters. Also drawn to pre-WWI Paris were writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Mark Twain.
The Greater Journey is an inspiring read and fills in some of the historical gaps in our understanding of pre WWI France and the Americans who lived there.

[Jason]

Interesting. Adding to TBR