For many years, Saint-Germain-des-Prés has been a stronghold of sans-culottes, a refuge to artists, a paradise for bohemians. It’s where Marat printed L’Ami du Peuple and Thomas Paine wrote The Rights of Man. Napoleon, Hemingway, and Sartre have all called it home. Descartes is buried there. Now bestselling author and Paris expert John Baxter takes listeners on a narrative tour of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which is also where Baxter makes his home. Tucked along the shores of the Left Bank, Saint-Germain-des-Pres embodies so much of what makes Paris special. Its cobblestone streets and ancient facades survive to this day, spared from modernization thanks to a quirk in their construction. Traditionally cheap rents attracted outsiders and political dissidents from the days of Robespierre to the student revolts of the 1960s. And its intellectual pedigree boasts such luminaries as Pablo Picasso, Arthur Rimbaud, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Simone de Beauvoir, Gertrude Stein, and Albert Camus. Part-history, part-guidebook, Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a fresh look at one of the City of Light’s most iconic quarters, and a delight for new tourists and Paris veterans alike.
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"Another delightful salute to Paris. . . . Whether you're planning your first trip to Paris or absolutely have to stop in Paris on your way anywhere, this book, in addition to the author's previous guides, is essential."
— Kirkus Starred Review
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John Baxter has lived in Paris for more than twenty years. He is the author of multiple acclaimed memoirs about his life in France, including The Perfect Meal, The Most Beautiful Walk in the World, Immoveable Feast, and We’ll Always Have Paris. Baxter is also a film critic and biographer whose subjects have included the directors Fellini, Kubrick, Woody Allen, and Josef von Sternberg.
Graham Halstead, an Earphones Award and Audie Award–winning narrator, is a professionally trained actor and voice artist. As an actor, he has worked internationally in Edinburgh and London, as well as at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. His youthful, easy-flowing voice can be heard on television and radio voicing spots for Airborne and Allegra.