Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This beautifully written and intelligently argued book takes us back to a critical time in French history when brilliant, inventive artistic minds and a king bent on making France pre-eminent in European style came together to create, perfect, or popularize an astonishing array of products and ideas we take for granted. This list is amazingly varied: Champagne as the ne plus ultra for celebrations; folding umbrellas (yes!); full-length mirrors; the diamond as symbol of wealth and power; street lights making a city open at night; the coffee house where one could socialize and get great pastry; haute cuisine cookbooks--and more. I'm a novelist and essayist and radio reviewer and I found the narrative endlessly gripping and thought-provoking. This is popular history at its best: lively, witty, entertaining and wise. The author makes you feel the excitement of a time filled with dazzling characters bent on changing the world around them in big and small ways. I've read a great deal about this period, but have never before seen it as such a fertile ground for creation in many fields. Bravo.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour
Get 20% OFF
0 comments:
Post a Comment