A traveller's history of Paris

the long version

Paris, in many people's view, is the epitome of the perfect city-beautiful, romantic and imbued with vitality and culture. It is a wonderful place to visit and to live. A 'pride of place' mentality has characterised Parisians for centuries: 'To be in Paris, is to be' enthused an anonymous correspondent as early as 1323. Packed with fact, anecdote and insight, A Traveller's History of Paris, offers a complete history of the city and the people who have shaped its destiny, from its earliest settlement as a Roman village with a few hundred inhabitants, to 20 centuries later when Paris is a city of well of 2 million, at the centre of a conurbation that exceeds 12 million-nearly one-fifth of the population of France.