Dividing Paris

A groundbreaking work of scholarship that sheds critical new light on the urban renewal of Paris under Napoleon III

In the mid-nineteenth century, Napoleon III and his prefect, Georges-Eug¿ Haussmann, adapted Paris to the requirements of industrial capitalism, endowing the old city with elegant boulevards, an enhanced water supply, modern sewers, and public greenery. Esther da Costa Meyer provides a major reassessment of this ambitious project, which resulted in widespread destruction in the historic center, displacing thousands of poor residents and polarizing the urban fabric.

Drawing on newspapers, memoirs, and other archival materials, da Costa Meyer explores how people from different social strata¿both women and men¿experienced the urban reforms implemented by the Second Empire. As hundreds of tenements were destroyed to make way for upscale apartment buildings, thousands of impoverished residents were forced to the periphery, which lacked the servic