getAbstract Summary: Get the key points from this book in 10 minutes.

When you think of Americans in Paris, you might picture Gene Kelly dancing on the banks of the Seine, but a century earlier, Americans were already making their way to the City of Light. From the early 1800s, American artists, writers, social activists, politicians, doctors and more went to Paris to live, study, learn and create. Celebrated historian David McCullough describes their experiences in exquisite detail, making long-forgotten people come vividly to life and placing his readers in the fascinating and sometimes volatile 19th-century French capital. At the same time, he nestles his stories within the US’s dynamic, though affectionate, relationship with the French. getAbstract recommends this intelligent and thought-provoking book to anyone who loves Paris and is intrigued by its long-lasting impact on US culture, art, classical music and geopolitics – not to mention that McCullough is always a great read.

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Copyright © 2011 by David McCullough
Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.