Heroic City
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€49.99
A01=Rosemary Wakeman
activism
architects
Author_Rosemary Wakeman
avant garde
broadcasting
Category=NHD
city
colonialism
conquest
custom
decolonization
eq_adult
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
fairs
festival
film
folklore
history
housing crisis
immigration
imperialism
labor
left bank
liberation
marches
military rule
nazi
nonfiction
north africans
occupation
paris
popular culture
populism
protest
public space
radio
ritual
spectacle
street dances
strikes
students
television
urban
violence
Product details
- ISBN 9780226870236
- Weight: 709g
- Dimensions: 16 x 24mm
- Publication Date: 01 Dec 2009
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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"The Heroic City" is a sparkling account of the fate of Paris' public spaces in the years following Nazi occupation and joyful liberation. Countering the traditional narrative that Paris' public landscape became sterile and dehumanized in the 1940s and '50s, Rosemary Wakeman instead finds that the city's streets overflowed with ritual, drama, and spectacle. With frequent strikes and protests, young people and students on parade, North Africans arriving in the capital of the French empire, and radio and television shows broadcast live from the streets, Paris continued to be vital terrain. Wakeman analyzes the public life of the city from a variety of perspectives. A reemergence of traditional customs led to the return of festivals, street dances, and fun fairs, while violent protests and political marches, the housing crisis, and the struggle over decolonization signaled the political realities of postwar France. The work of urban planners and architects, the output of filmmakers and intellectuals, and the day-to-day experiences of residents from all walks of life come together in this vibrant portrait of a flamboyant and transformative moment in the life of the City of Light.
Rosemary Wakeman is associate professor of history and director of the Urban Studies Program at Fordham University and the author of Modernizing the Provincial City: Toulouse 1945-1975.
