Tales of Two Cities: Paris and London, 1750-1914

Paris and London have had long had a mutual fascination for each other, and never more so than in the period 1750-1914, when they vied for the glory of being the world's greatest city. In isolation each city has been the focus of a raft of publications, yet the complex relationship between them has never been explored. The reach and influence of both cities was such that the story of their rivalry is much more than cross-Channel comparative history. By borrowing, imitating and learning from each other they didn't just create two cities - they invented all cities. Tales of Two Cities considers five urban spaces - the pleasure garden, the cemetery, the apartment, the subway train and the slum - which can be found in almost every modern city. Each reflects a truth about the city and the challenges it has to overcome. Paris and London faced these challenges first - and so defined city living for all of us.

Book Author

Jonathan Conlin was born in New York and later moved to Britain, where he studied history at Oxford. He went on to do graduate work at the Courtauld Institute and Cambridge, completing a PhD thesis on the early history of the National Gallery, London. From 2002-5 he was a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he researched and wrote the first complete history of the Gallery. This was published in 2006 as “The Nation’s Mantelpiece: a history of the National Gallery”. He is regularly invited to comment on museums and broader questions of national heritage, on ITV...
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