<DIV><DIV><P>“Vivid, informed, delectably readable…an enlightened introduction to the city's best-kept secrets. No visitor to France should go without it.”<B><I>—Sunday Times </I>(UK)</B></P><P>Paris captures everyone's imaginations: It's a backdrop for Proust's fictional pederast, Robert Doisneau's photographic kiss, and Edith Piaf's serenaded soldier-lovers; a home as much to romance and love poems as to prostitution and opium dens. The city's dynamic, conflicted identity is visible everywhere—between cobblestones, in bars, on the <I>métro</I>.</P><P>Andrew Hussey brings to life the urchins and artists who've left their marks on the city, filling in the gaps of a history that affected the disenfranchised as much as the nobility. <I>Paris: The Secret History</I> ranges across centuries, movements, and cultural and political beliefs, from Napoleon's overcrowded cemeteries to Balzac's nocturnal flight from his debts. Hussey takes us on a picaresque journey through royal palaces, brothels, and sidewalk cafés, uncovering the rich, exotic, and often lurid history of the world's most beloved city.</P></DIV></DIV>