
Twilight of the Belle Epoque
The Paris of Picasso, Stravinsky, Proust, Renault, Marie Curie, Gertrude Stein, and Their Friends Through the Great War
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Narrated by:
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Nancy Peterson
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By:
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Mary McAuliffe
About this listen
Mary McAuliffe's Dawn of the Belle Epoque took the listener from the multiple disasters of 1870-1871 through the extraordinary re-emergence of Paris as the cultural center of the Western world. Now, in Twilight of the Belle Epoque, McAuliffe portrays Paris in full flower at the turn of the 20th century, where creative dynamos such as Picasso, Matisse, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, Proust, Marie Curie, Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau, and Isadora Duncan set their respective circles on fire with a barrage of revolutionary visions and discoveries. Such dramatic breakthroughs were not limited to the arts or sciences, as innovators and entrepreneurs such as Louis Renault, Andre Citroën, Paul Poiret, François Coty, and so many others - including those magnificent men and women in their flying machines - emphatically demonstrated. But all was not well in this world, remembered in hindsight as a golden age, and wrenching struggles between church and state, as well as between haves and have-nots, shadowed these years, underscored by the ever-more-ominous drumbeat of the approaching Great War - a cataclysm that would test the mettle of the City of Light, even as it brutally brought the Belle Epoque to its close.
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John Julius Norwich - called a "true master of narrative history" by Simon Sebag Montefiore - returns with the book he has spent his distinguished career wanting to write, A History of France, a portrait of the past two centuries of the country he loves best. Beginning with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the first century BC, this study of French history comprises a cast of legendary characters - Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Marie Antionette, to name a few - as Norwich chronicles France's often violent, always fascinating history.
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Kings and Wars
- By Awake Tex on 08-22-19
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When Paris Sizzled
- The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends
- By: Mary McAuliffe
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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When Paris Sizzled vividly portrays the City of Light during the fabulous 1920s, les Annees folles, when Parisians emerged from the horrors of war to find that a new world greeted them - one that reverberated with the hard metallic clang of the assembly line, the roar of automobiles, and the beat of jazz. Mary McAuliffe traces a decade that saw seismic change on almost every front, from art and architecture to music, literature, fashion, entertainment, transportation, and, most notably, behavior.
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Informative, but no sizzle
- By OzEnigma on 06-01-17
By: Mary McAuliffe
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The Only Street in Paris
- Life on the Rue Des Martyrs
- By: Elaine Sciolino
- Narrated by: Elaine Sciolino
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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Elaine Sciolino, the former Paris bureau chief of The New York Times, invites us on a tour of her favorite Parisian street, offering an homage to street life and the pleasures of Parisian living. While many cities suffer from the leveling effects of globalization, the rue des Martyrs maintains its distinct allure. On this street, the patron saint of France was beheaded and the Jesuits took their first vows.
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Not just for Paris lovers.
- By Anna on 01-18-16
By: Elaine Sciolino
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Saint-Germain-des-Pres: Paris's Rebel Quarter
- Great Parisian Neighborhoods Series, Book 1
- By: John Baxter
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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For many years, Saint-Germain-des-Pres 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 best-selling author and Paris expert John Baxter takes listeners on a narrative tour of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, which is also where Baxter makes his home.
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Old Paris...fascinating!
- By Marie on 03-22-25
By: John Baxter
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Rogues' Gallery
- The Rise (And Occasional Fall) of Art Dealers, the Hidden Players in the History of Art
- By: Philip Hook
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Here for the first time is the history of art dealers, those extraordinary men and women who, over centuries (and almost entirely out of the public eye), built their profession on a singular skill: identifying the intangible but infinitely desirable qualities that characterize the greatest works of art - and finding clients for whom those qualities are irresistible.
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Superb art history you never learned in college!
- By Rosemary Wells on 05-05-19
By: Philip Hook
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Parisians
- An Adventure History of Paris
- By: Graham Robb
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the Paris you never knew. From the Revolution to the present, Graham Robb has distilled a series of astonishing true narratives, all stranger than fiction. A young artillery lieutenant, strolling through the Palais-Royal, observes disapprovingly the courtesans plying their trade. A particular woman catches his eye; nature takes its course. Later that night, Napoleon Bonaparte writes a meticulous account of his first sexual encounter....
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Difficult....but worth it
- By Myrna Minkoff on 10-11-10
By: Graham Robb
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Paris France
- By: Gertrude Stein
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Celebrated for her innovative literary bravura, Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) settled into a bustling Paris at the turn of the 20th century, never again to return to her native America. While in Paris, she not only surrounded herself with - and tirelessly championed the careers of - a remarkable group of young expatriate artists but also solidified herself as "one of the most controversial figures of American letters" (New York Times).
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The writing style of Gertrude Stein
- By mamax3 on 10-22-24
By: Gertrude Stein
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I Found My Tomorrow in Paris
- One Woman's Journey to a New Life
- By: Marilyn Pearsol Giorgetti
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The Prairies Book Review says "A delightful travel memoir of Self Discovery and Empowerment." "Absolutely wonderful book. A fun read-hard to put down. A very inspirational book for any woman(particularly older) who wants to adventure out to new experiences and self discovery. Highly recommended as a well written, interesting, inspirational and fun account of new beginnings." - Janice G. "There is a plethora of books by Brits and Americans living in France. I have read many of them. I have lived in Paris. This is the most well written book of that genre that I have read. Travel Writing at ...
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AI can’t read basic words
- By David M. Sargent on 03-24-25
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My Good Life in France
- In Pursuit of the Rural Dream
- By: Janine Marsh
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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One grey dismal day, Janine Marsh was on a trip to northern France to pick up some cheap wine. She returned to England a few hours later having put in an offer on a rundown old barn in the rural Seven Valleys area of Pas de Calais. This was not something she'd expected or planned for. Janine eventually gave up her job in London to move with her husband to live the good life in France. Or so she hoped. While getting to grips with the locals and la vie Française, and renovating her dilapidated new house, a building lacking the comforts of mains drainage, heating, or proper rooms.
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Really funny, delightful, informative
- By mz on 10-02-18
By: Janine Marsh
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Paris 1919
- Six Months That Changed the World
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 25 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, renowned historian Margaret MacMillan's best-selling Paris 1919 is the story of six remarkable months that changed the world. At the close of WWI, between January and July of 1919, delegates from around the world converged on Paris under the auspices of peace. New countries were created, old empires were dissolved, and for six months, Paris was the center of the world.
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Good book, well narrated
- By W. F. Rucker on 02-07-09
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Venice
- Pure City
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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The Venetians' language and way of thinking set them aside from the rest of Italy. They are an island people, linked to the sea and to the tides rather than the land. This latest work from the incomparable Peter Ackroyd, like a magic gondola, transports its listeners to that sensual and surprising city. His account embraces facts and romance, conjuring up the atmosphere of the canals, bridges, and sunlit squares, the churches and the markets, the festivals and the flowers.
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An endless droning list.....
- By jack on 03-15-11
By: Peter Ackroyd
What listeners say about Twilight of the Belle Epoque
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-09-24
2 volumes, great!
These 2 informative volumes were great preparation for our trip to the Olympics. Thank you.
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- SBG
- 02-22-23
Fun, immersive listen; but the narrator...
Yet another well-researched dive into a specific Parisian era; but I'm baffled by the narrator,
She's got an appealing voice and cadence and (unlike many) actually tackles the accents with some skill, but it seems like she is sight-reading and committing bizarre inconsistencies. Among the more egregious are Proust, to whom she refers as "Proo" and "Proust" -- even in the same paragraph. Other names are similarly butchered. I don't expect everybody to master every accent, but the weird thing here is that she actually does have a grasp of accents. She just drastically changes the pronunciation of recurring names for no reason whatsoever. PROO? Really? It's almost like she has no idea what is going on. Would it be too much to ask for a narrator who does a modicum of research? Are there no editors here? It just feels lazy -- and kind of strange. That said, I happily stuck with it, thanks to Mary McAuliffe. But come on, readers. Try doing just a minimum of homework.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Corrie Coldwell
- 02-10-25
Very disjointed storytelling but great historically.
I thought the storytelling was very disjointed so it was difficult to recall who was who when time periods and events changed. A great story of the time and culture but hard to keep up and understand the narrative of each “character’s” life and career progression.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-19-24
Hard on the ears
I couldn't finish this audiobook because it was painful on my ears when the narrator switched to French for certain words. it was jarring and annoying. I can think of many audiobook I enjoyed more, such as a recent book about JS Sargent, Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee, Caroline Weber's Proust Duchess, The Great Improvisation abiut Ben Franclin in France. I really can't stand the switch to French accent by this narrator.
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