
Paris in Ruins
Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism
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Narrated by:
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Julian Elfer
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By:
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Sebastian Smee
About this listen
From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the "Terrible Year" by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans-then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris.
In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Sebastian Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience-reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things-became the movement's great contribution to the history of art.
Incisive and absorbing, Paris in Ruins captures the shifting passions and politics of the art world, revealing how the siege and the chaos of the Commune had a profound impact on modern art, and how artistic genius can emerge from darkness and catastrophe.
©2024 Sebastian Smee (P)2024 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
The Roman empire was like no other. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity on an unprecedented scale. Its only true rival lay in the east, where the Parthian and then Persian empires ruled over great cities and the trade routes to mysterious lands beyond. Tracing seven centuries of conflict between Rome and Persia, historian Adrian Goldsworthy shows how these two great powers evolved together
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Great Book for History Buffs
- By Dav on 07-09-24
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The Eurasian Century
- Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern Century
- By: Hal Brands
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Hal Brands argues that a better understanding of Eurasia's strategic geography can illuminate the contours of rivalry and conflict in today's world. The Eurasian Century explains how revolutions in technology and warfare, and the rise of toxic ideologies of conquest, made Eurasia the center of twentieth-century geopolitics—with pressing implications for the struggles that will define the twenty-first.
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Worth the read.
- By Chip Eckert on 02-24-25
By: Hal Brands
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Early Modern Philosophy: Descartes and the Rationalists
- By: James D. Reid, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: James D. Reid
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Original Recording
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From the 17th to 18th centuries, bold thinkers cast off the authority of ancient traditions and embraced reason as the primary tool for understanding the world. These rationalists, or early modern philosophers, included René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz—visionaries whose answers to profound questions remain relevant today. Early Modern Philosophy: Descartes and the Rationalists covers the key philosophers of this period in 12 fascinating half-hour lectures, presented by award-winning teacher James D. Reid, Professor of Philosophy at Metropolitan State University.
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Great Introduction and overview
- By Shawn Klein on 01-16-25
By: James D. Reid, and others
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The Habsburgs
- To Rule the World
- By: Martyn Rady
- Narrated by: Simon Boughey
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The definitive history of a powerful family dynasty who dominated Europe for centuries - from their rise to power to their eventual downfall.
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An Excellent and Interesting History
- By Darrel Bishop on 09-14-20
By: Martyn Rady
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The Thistle and the Rose
- By: Linda Porter
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of her more famous brother Henry VIII, is the single most important Tudor figure of this era that historians have consistently overlooked. Married at thirteen to the charismatic James IV of Scotland, a man more than twice her age, she would learn the skills of statecraft that would enable her to survive his early death, and to construct a powerful position in her adopted country of Scotland as she dealt with domestic issues as well as navigating international relations with England and France.
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Margaret Tudor / Queen of Scots
- By mariac25 on 09-24-24
By: Linda Porter
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Camille Pissarro
- The Audacity of Impressionism
- By: Anka Muhlstein, Adriana Hunter - translator
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The celebrated painter Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) occupied a central place in the artistic scene of his time: a founding member of the new school of French painting, he was a close friend of Monet, a longtime associate in Degas's and Mary Cassatt's experimental work, a support to Cezanne and Gauguin, and a comfort to Van Gogh, and was backed by the great Parisian art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel throughout his career. Nevertheless, he felt a persistent sense of being set apart, different, and hard to classify.
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pissarro inspiration
- By thomas rutter on 06-22-25
By: Anka Muhlstein, and others
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Palestine 1936
- The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict
- By: Oren Kessler
- Narrated by: Shawn K. Jain
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In spring 1936, the Holy Land erupted in a rebellion that targeted both the local Jewish community and the British Mandate authorities. The Great Arab Revolt would last three years, cost thousands of lives, and cast the trajectory for the Middle East conflict. The revolt was the crucible in which Palestinian identity coalesced, uniting all in a single struggle for independence. Yet the rebellion would ultimately turn on itself. British forces' aggressive counterinsurgency took care of the rest, finally quashing the uprising on the eve of World War II.
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Who is this narrator?
- By Rachel S. on 09-23-24
By: Oren Kessler
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Edison's Ghosts
- The Untold Weirdness of History's Greatest Geniuses
- By: Katie Spalding
- Narrated by: Susie Riddell
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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“As Albert Einstein almost certainly never said, everyone is a genius—but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” So begins Katie Spalding’s spunky takedown of the Western canon, and how genius may not be as irrefutably great as we commonly understand. While most of us may never become Einstein, it may surprise you to learn that there’s probably a bunch of stuff you can do that Einstein couldn’t. And, as Spalding shows, the famous prodigies she explores here were quite odd by any definition.
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Wonderful Wonderful Read.
- By marc edge on 06-01-23
By: Katie Spalding
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1917
- Lenin, Wilson, and the Birth of the New World Disorder
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In this incisive, fast-paced history, New York Times best-selling author Arthur Herman brilliantly reveals how Lenin and Wilson rewrote the rules of modern geopolitics. Through the end of World War I, countries marched into war only to increase or protect their national interests. After World War I, countries began going to war over ideas. Together, Lenin and Wilson unleashed the disruptive ideologies that would sweep the world, from nationalism and globalism to Communism and terrorism, and that continue to shape our world today.
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Another book you wish was part of every university world history curriculum
- By Bruno Carleston on 11-26-18
By: Arthur Herman
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The Longest Con
- How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism
- By: Joe Conason
- Narrated by: Steve Marvel
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Longest Con tells the fascinating story of the partisan con artists who have corrupted conservative politics in our time, creating a toxic phenomenon that culminated in the election of Donald Trump, a bumptious fraud whose checkered career and tawdry retinue, including his presidential cabinet, have featured almost every variety of scam. But long before he appeared, Trump's path to power was blazed by the motley horde of swindlers and quacks who preceded him.
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Avalanche of Facts
- By K. Clark on 01-13-25
By: Joe Conason
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Mad Enchantment
- Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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We have all seen, whether live, in photographs or on postcards, some of Claude Monet's legendary water lily paintings. They are in museums all over the world and are among the most beloved works of art of the past century. Yet, ironically, these soothing images were created amid terrible personal turmoil and sadness.
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Wonderful book. Awful awful narration.
- By StphnyC on 06-23-17
By: Ross King
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The Ancient City
- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Ancient Greece and Rome
- By: Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most remarkable historical works of the 19th century came from the pen of French historian Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges, a native of Paris. This amazing analysis of family and religious life among the ancient Greeks and Romans is the key to understanding ancient Mediterranean civilizations. The story begins in the misty period of the Bronze Age as the Indo-Europeans began to filter down into the Italian and Greek peninsulas. They brought with them a patriarchy that was based on ancestor worship and the veneration of hearth gods.
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Exhaustive Detail
- By Existimator on 06-15-24
The author’s crisp prose and the fluidity of the narrative
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Instructs & delights
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a fascinating historical, political, cultural, and artistic nexus in time
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The depth, scope of the history
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The perspective of Berthe Morisot
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Outstanding combination of History, impressionism, and romance
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Great story, well told. Completely factual? Maybe.
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Engaging but overwhelming…
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Stunningly great narrator!
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Amazing Background on the Impressionists
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