Constructing Paris in the Age of Revolution

The great myth of Baron Haussmann is that 'modernity' began with his monumental reconstruction of Paris in the second half of the nineteenth century. Constructing Paris in the Age of Revolution argues that 'Haussmannisation before Haussmann' in the late 1700s also made Paris the capital of the eighteenth century. In particular, due to the persistence of the black legend of uninterrupted revolutionary vandalism, few historians have researched the construction of revolutionary Paris, yet if formed a core sector of revolutionary urban, social, labour and industrial policy. Allan Potofsky thus rehabilitates the vitality of building during the Revolution, and - while architectural and urban historians have often treated the history of construction through the exclusive optic of careers and tastes of architects and urban planners, or through the structure and aesthetics of buildings, streets, and cities – his book examines the social and political history of workers and entrepreneurs engaged in constructing the French capital, in the period, 1763 to 1815.

ALLAN POTOFSKYgained his PhDin History from Columbia University, New York, and has taught for the past fifteen years at the Universite Paris-VIII, France. His research interests include Eighteenth-century Atlantic history, France in America in the Eighteenth century, the French Revolution, and the history of Paris. He lives in the northeast Parisian quarter of Belleville.