{"product_id":"haussmann-or-the-distinction-9780312420925","title":"Haussmann, or the Distinction","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA stunning, imaginative novel about the great architect of Paris\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBaron Georges-Eug ne Haussmann, who demolished and rebuilt Paris in the middle of the nineteenth century, was the first urbanist of the modern era--and perhaps the greatest. He presided over two decades of riches, peace, and progress in a city the likes of which no one had ever seen before, with boulevards monumentally conceived and brilliantly lit, clean water, public transportation, and sewers that were the envy of every nation in the world. Yet there is a story that, on his deathbed, Haussmann wished all his work undone. \"Would that it had died with me \" he is supposed to have said. What is the secret of the baron's last regret?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo answer this question, Haussmann tells the story of Madeleine, a foundling who grew up in the magical, chaotic world that Haussmann destroyed; of de Fonce, one of the great \u003ci\u003eartistes d molisseurs\u003c\/i\u003e who tore Paris down and sold its rubble as antiques; and of a three-sided affair that pits love against ambition, architecture against flesh, and the living Parisians against Haussmann's unbuilt masterpiece, the Railroad of the Dead. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough steeped in history, Paul LaFarge's \u003ci\u003eHaussmann, or the Distinction\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel not bound by fact; it is an account of the hidden, sometimes fantastical life of the nineteenth century, a work that will make readers think of Borges as well as Balzac; it is a view of cities, of love, and of history itself from the other side of the mirror.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e St. Martins Press-3PL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/01\/2002\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780312420925\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 400\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.15lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.52h x 5.55w x 0.95d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward:\u003c\/b\u003e Bard Fiction Prize - Winner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/27\/2002 pg. 28\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Paul LaFarge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38012626436277,"sku":"9780312420925","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_367e0445-1626-488b-ab4e-0fafd2311bef.jpg?v=1609137015","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/haussmann-or-the-distinction-9780312420925","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}