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And the World's Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count
Viking
May 2009
On Sale: April 30, 2009
368 pages ISBN: 0670020605 EAN: 9780670020607 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
The story of the world-famous monument and the extraordinary
world’s fair that introduced it Since it opened in May 1889, the Eiffel Tower has been an
iconic image of modern times—as much a beacon of
technological progress as an enduring symbol of Paris and
French culture. But as engineer Gustave Eiffel built the
now-famous landmark to be the spectacular centerpiece of the
1889 World’s Fair, he stirred up a storm of vitriol from
Parisian tastemakers, lawsuits, and predictions of certain
structural calamity. In Eiffel’s Tower, Jill Jonnes, critically acclaimed author
of Conquering Gotham, presents a compelling account of the
tower’s creation and a superb portrait of Belle Epoque
France. As Eiffel held court that summer atop his
one-thousand-foot tower, a remarkable host of artists and
personalities—Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Gauguin, Whistler,
and Edison—traveled to Paris and the Exposition Universelle
to mingle and make their mark. Like The Devil in the White City, Brunelleschi’s Dome, and
David McCullough’s accounts of the building of the Panama
Canal and the Brooklyn Bridge, Eiffel’s Tower combines
technological and social history and biography to create a
richly textured portrayal of an age of aspiration, dreams,
and progress.
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