In Paris, you only have to look up to be seized by the beauty of the city’s monuments, bursting with history and stories to tell. The center of Paris? It’s everywhere. Paris offers no insignificant spaces, no impersonal deserted nowhere. Paris has for centuries seemed calmly indifferent to that globalized, ravenous, giddy form of cannibalism called “urban development.” In fact, even if you know all of the city’s 6,500 streets perfectly, Paris will always remain the capital of roaming around. To drift through Paris, you require no pretext; you simply adopt this town that has long considered itself ideal for the flaneur.
An ode to the City of Light, Paris by Paris is a true journey through the twentieth century through the lens of history, but also the arts, fashion, culture, and style. Over seven chapters, readers discover the glorious days of the Belle-Epoque, the Roaring Twenties, and the revived intellectual and artistic creativity of the post-war era. They stroll along the grands boulevards, where the beauty of the city’s monuments burst with history and stories to tell, and learn the city in a way known only to the savviest insiders.
Following Assouline’s best-selling volume New York by New York, Paris by Paris features rarely seen photographs, including some of the first-ever photos of the 2024 Olympics published in a book. It is thoughtfully presented in the signature Assouline style to offer a unique celebration to the City of Light. Housed in a luxurious slipcase, this volume is narrated by writers Ariel Wizman and Harold Cobert. It is also accompanied by an insightful foreword by Frédéric Beigbeder and made complete with a timeline of the city’s key moments of the past centuries.
Ariel Wizman is a renowned Moroccan-born writer, musician, and actor. After working for publications such as Actuel, Vogue Hommes, and 20 Ans, he produced an array of programs for French radio channel France Culture. A former journalist-host at national TV channel Canal+, he is now a full-time writer and entrepreneur. Since 2020, he has been the co-founder of Miniso, a Chinese retailer and variety store specializing in household and consumer goods.
Writer and doctor of letters, Harold Cobert is the author of around twenty works. His latest novel, Le rouge et le blanc, was published by Les Escales.
