Rebel Cities: Paris, London and New York in the Age of Revolution - Hardcover

Rapport, X Mike

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1408702916 ISBN 13: 9781408702918

Publisher: Little, Brown, 2017

Synopsis

London, Paris and New York in the eighteenth century, as today, were places where political authority, commerce and money, art and intellectual life intersected. They straddled an Atlantic world where ships powered by nothing more than wind, currents and human muscle criss-crossed the sea, carrying with them goods, ideas and above all people: men and women, bewigged aristocrats and lawyers, rough-handed craftworkers, quill-wielding bluestockings and doughty fishwives. But the cities were also home to dangerous criminals, corrupt politicians­ - and slaves.

Rebel Cities explores the stormy debate about the nature of cities in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: were they places of enlightenment, sparkling wells of progress and civilisation, or were they dens of vice, degeneracy and disorder? Against a backdrop of accelerating urban expansion and revolution in both Europe and North America, revolutionary burghers of these extraordinary cities expended ink, paint, breath and, sometimes, blood in their struggle to understand, control and master the urban world.

Drawing on hundreds of letters, travelogues and eye-witness accounts, Mike Rapport vividly evokes the sights, sounds and smells of these cities, masterfully weaving their history with the politics of revolution.

When New Yorkers and Parisians experienced their revolution, when their cities went to war, and when Londoners engaged in political protest, they underwent the whole torrent and exhilaration of human emotions. Determining the character of the cities through their inhabitants, as well as their architecture, topography and the events that shaped them, this magnificent book evokes what it was like for all parts of society to live in London, Paris and New York in one of the most transformative periods in the history of civilisation.

About this title

About the Author

Mike Rapport is a Reader in modern European history at the University of Glasgow and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is the author of several books, including 1848: Year of Revolution. He lives in Stirling, Scotland.

From the Back Cover

Praise for 1848: Year of Revolution

'Impeccable . . . punctuated by vivid set pieces' Literary Review

'A lively, panoramic new history' New York Times

'An ambitious and wide-ranging book . . . Those who want a readable, informed and vibrant account of a crucial time in European history should look no further' Independent Weekly

'This lively history gives an impressive overview and examines how these insurrections shaped modern Europe' Scotland on Sunday

From the Inside Flap

London, Paris and New York in the later eighteenth century, as today, were places where political authority, commerce and money, art and intellectual life intersected. They straddled an Atlantic world pulsating with new ideas - and with revolution. Whole communities, men and women, bewigged aristocrats and lawyers, rough-handed craftworkers, quill-wielding bluestockings, doughty fishwives, and the enslaved, debated the meaning of freedom and made bids for emancipation and equality.

Rebel Cities explores the ways in which these upheavals unfolded in three great urban centres, considering the relationship between city and revolution, and explaining why New York and Paris experienced revolution, while London - although it came close - ultimately did not. From the coming of the American War of Independence in New York, to agitation for democracy in London, to insurrection, revolution and regicide in Paris, Mike Rapport takes readers through the streets and neighbourhoods of these cities, describing how the political conflicts were shaped by, and in turn marked, their buildings, their public spaces and their cityscapes. Drawing on archives, letters, travelogues and eye-witness accounts, Mike Rapport vividly evokes the sights, sounds and smells of the urban world, masterfully weaving their history with the politics of revolution.

Determining the character of the cities through their inhabitants, as well as their buildings, topography and the events that shaped them, this book evokes what it was like for all parts of society to live in London, Paris and New York in one of the most transformative periods in western history.

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1408702916
• ISBN 13: 9781408702918
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 464