Paris Discovered Explorations in the City of Light Mary McAuliffe Paris Discovered is a collection of 50 probing chapters intended for armchair travelers and visitors to the City of Light. Digging deep into Paris' memories, the author has discovered patterns of the past that have left tangible imprints on the city today. McAuliffe explores Paris through space and time, from the top of Notre Dame to the medieval aqueducts that still lie beneath its streets; from the Impressionists' Path to the barricades of Les Miserables; from Abélard and Héloïse to Napoleon; from the antiques of Village Saint-Paul to the new hot spot for shopping, Viaduc des Arts. She unearths the Paris that charmed Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in the eighteenth century - and George Gershwin and Ernest Hemingway in the twentieth century. In her explorations, McAuliffe discovers a hidden river, the Bièvre, and follows its course. You feel that you are on an adventure with the author as she investigates the city and discovers surprises such as a twelfth century chapel disguised as a private house! Or a mysterious small round building with a distinctive cupola that turns out to be part of an ancient waterworks! Full of off-the-beaten path excursions and little known historical facts about prominent locations, Paris Discovered intrigues and englightens.
 
About the Author: Mary McAuliffe received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Maryland. She taught at Iowa State University, where she published a scholarly monograph (Crisis on the Left: Cold War Politics and American Liberals, 1947-1954) as well as articles for several journals. She has traveled extensively in France, and for the past five years she has been a regular contributor to the monthly, Paris Notes. She currently lives with her husband in Manhattan, where she writes historical nonfiction and fiction.