The Heroic City
Paris, 1945-1958
The Heroic City is a sparkling account of the fate of Paris’s public spaces in the years following Nazi occupation and joyful liberation. Countering the traditional narrative that Paris’s public landscape became sterile and dehumanized in the 1940s and ’50s, Rosemary Wakeman instead finds that the city’s streets overflowed with ritual, drama, and spectacle. With frequent strikes and protests, young people and students on parade, North Africans arriving in the capital of the French empire, and radio and television shows broadcast live from the streets, Paris continued to be vital terrain.
Wakeman analyzes the public life of the city from a variety of perspectives. A reemergence of traditional customs led to the return of festivals, street dances, and fun fairs, while violent protests and political marches, the housing crisis, and the struggle over decolonization signaled the political realities of postwar France. The work of urban planners and architects, the output of filmmakers and intellectuals, and the day-to-day experiences of residents from all walks of life come together in this vibrant portrait of a flamboyant and transformative moment in the life of the City of Light.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
1. Paris in the 1950s
2. The Landscape of Populism
3. Public Space and Confrontation
4. Spatial Imagination and the Avant-Garde
5. Paris as Cinematic Space
6. The Left Bank
7. Planning Paris
Conclusion: Constructing the Paris of Tomorrow
Notes
Bibliography
IndexHistory: European History | Urban History
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