The Invention Of Paris

For the left it also conjures images of world-changing events like the 1789 French revolution, the 1871 Commune or the student-worker rebellions of 1968, not to mention the socialist-communist popular front of the 1930s, anti-fascist resistance throughout the second world war and the recent struggles of the "sans-papiers."

Combine the two and it's a heady and pretty explosive mixture which makes Hazan's book a riveting and quite essential text, indispensable as a pre-holiday read or even one to flick through as you walk round the arrondisements.

Infused with a love, understanding and respect for his native city, Hazan unashamedly celebrates what is good.

But he doesn't shy away from condemning what is bad, such as the fact that "the property speculation of the 1960s succeeded where guns and plague failed."

Replete with literary and cultural references, the book assumes the reader will have a working knowledge of French history.

Yet although comparisons might be drawn with the work of psychogeographers this is far more of a grounded academic text, less predisposed to the freewheeling, impressionistic and subjective emphases of other studies.

Hazan helpfully divides the book into five main chapters - old Paris, new Paris, Red Paris, the Paris of the flaneur - which roughly translates as "wanderer" or "stroller" - and the Paris of the visual arts.

The first two chapters are incredibly detailed accounts that chart the emergence of Paris street by street in the the quarters of each chosen arrondisement.

But the chapter on Red Paris is something of a disappointment.

Focusing on the disturbances of 1848 and the later Commune, there are some interesting comparisons made about the role of barricades in both these events.

But in general it's a more historical account which lacks the geographical underpinnings of other chapters.

Events in Paris during the course of the 20th century appear to merit little interest. And Hazan's references to the "so-called communist party" hardly helping matters in this respect.

The concluding chapters end the book on a more satisfactory note. But the glaring omissions and the fact that the only illustrations are some poorly reproduced maps end up making it one more to borrow than to buy.