The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris

David McCullough should be writing all the history textbooks for high school. It is 1000 times more interesting as he always adds flesh to the bones. We listened to this tape on our annual drive to FL and had to sit in our driveway for 15 min. to finish the last tape which is a tribute to how well done this was. We never fully understood the influence France had on our American beginnings before this book. Well done again Mr. McCullough!!

David McCullough never fails to deliver an interesting read with much insight and colorful and interesting history. This is another example of his excellent work, the stories of Americans who found something special in one of the great cities of the world.

Very interesting how the circumstances facing early Americans who visited Paris have influenced what we found when we spent a week there. In addition, many readers will be surprised at the American names and events that are part of the 19th century Parisienne history.

Though the subtitle of McCullough's latest history THE GREATEST JOURNEY reads "Americans in Paris," it is as much a history of the city itself, focusing on the 1830s to the 1890s. It is a good choice for a couple of reasons: one, many readers are familiar with the French Revolution (earlier) and the Lost Generation following WWI (later), but these years, including the Franco-Prussian War, are less well known. Two, the flow of Americans seeking to become renowned as diplomats, painters, writers, architects, doctors, and sculptors truly became a torrent during these times. Their many stories make up this book.

What holds the book back is its necessarily episodic nature. McCullough is forced to jump around from this character to that, and readers who like to hitch their wagon to a protagonist and run with it will be left at the station. Of course, if you'll settle for a CITY as protagonist, no problem. Most informative for me was the stretch on the Communards following the Franco-Prussian War. As it was civil war in the city, this "debacle" took more French lives than the Germans had in the ignoble war proceeding it.

You will also learn enough to be dangerous about such dignitaries as Elihu Washburne, a forgotten diplomatic giant who represented the U.S. during the F-P War and the Commune episode as well as such folks as James Fenimore Cooper, Samuel F.B. Morse, Looius Moreau Gottschalk, George PA. Healy, Oliver Wendell Homes, Henry James, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Mary Cassatt, and John Singer Sargent. To name a few, that is. Some are covered to a much greater extent than others, but that often is as much dictated by the records they or others left about them as it is by McCullough's own quirks.

Although it is not a riveting history, it is an interesting one. And you'll learn something, too. I know history books are capable of both, but they are rare birds. I'm always happy to just learn something -- and here, I did.

Very highly researched history of Americans living in Paris France for various reasons. David McCullough once again provides an intresting narative of he detailed events taking place at various times in history.

This book gives one good reason to be a Francophile.
It documents early advances in Medicine and the great tradition of the arts in Paris. Wonderful history of Americans achievements were brought to life in settings and history on the streets of Paris for 100 years.

What a wonderfully dense--in the best sense of the word--history McCullough presents. This book is rich with details and illustrates why so many Americans were dawn to Paris at a time when the faraway yet palpable influence of that city permeated much of our American culture. We forget how advanced Paris was in terms of medicine--and so many other areas beyond the more famous realms of music and art. It is a Paris long gone--but one worth remembering. I read the book twice, a fairly unusual choice on my part.

I loved learning about the life histories of Saint Gaudens, Sargent, Cassatt and the Parisian medical schools which at the time were so much better than those in the USA.

This is my second time reading this book and I enjoyed it even more the this time. In fact, I could read it again. There was so much fascinating history in it.

This is a great book, thoroughly researched. It's a pleasure to read. It has so many different aspects of society described in detail. I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in France, Paris, the history of medicine and great artists and inventors. I look forward to finished the book. David McCullough is a wonderful writer.

This is an extraordinary view of our American citizens of various talents and skills who visited and adored Paris. This book makes clear the love affair for the City of Lights and all that it had to offer at a time when the United States was developing and growing in so many ways.
The list of who's who in painting,writing, inventing, sculpting, etc. is phenomenal and I will read and research many of these names because Mr. McCullough created a narrative that is fascinating, descriptive and educational in a way that is so readable by so many.

Great Book, Great Story. I had a feeling about what what was happening in Paris during that period, But Mr. McCullough's book is filled with details that makes for an extraordinary tale with great detail about those incredible Americans. It makes me proud to be an American.

If you enjoy McCullough this book will meet your expectations. You feel like you're there participating in the history of the moment. Detailed, you can tell his research is so I depth it's like reliving the events in person. Well written, so much so I struggle to put it down.

If you love Paris, art, American history, or cultural history, you will love this book. McCullough is a fabulous narrator and synthesizer of much information. I learned an enormous amount and was totally entertained throughout. George Healy, nineteenth century portraitist, and familiar artists like Mary Cassatt and Augustus St. Gaudens are just a few of the Americans charmed by their time in Paris. McCullough quotes from many letters and journals to indicate the great cultural debt Americans owed to their time in Paris. Medical students learned state-of-the art medicine; Charles Sumner learned his anti-slavery values through his experience with educated and respected blacks in Paris.

This book is very enjoyable. David McCullough makes you feel as if you are really there and living in that place and time. My only problem was the version of the book I got was not large print, even though the sticker on the book said it was large print, but that is not the author's fault. I should have asked the seller to double check it before mailing it.

Famous names like Sanuel Morse, James Fenimore Cooper, and many others, bring back the sciences,painting, culture to American starting in the early 1800's. The personalities come alive for us as McCullough explores their familes, finances, pressures to succeed and mental states as they do so.
For those readers familiar with this phenomenal City of Lights, the descriptions of the Bistros, Museums and other landmarks adds a thrill.

I've read several of David McCullough's books and normally love them. This is my least favorite. Maybe because I'm not as familiar with the people, but it just didn't hold my interest the way his books on the president's did.

Rather than a continuous narrative, like Path Between the Sea, or a biography of a single figure, McCullough weaves a wonderful tapestry of the stories of Americans, artists, sculptors, writers, physicians and even politicians, who found their way to Paris between 1830 and 1900. The telling of their personal stories, the works they created and the twists and turns of French history enrich each other.

David McCullough's latest book is a fascinating read of how the emigration of talented Americans helped shape the art, medical and political landscape of "The City of Light" between 1830 and 1900. Many of these Americans were to become famous in their fields of endeavor and revolutionize how the world looked at the unique methods of painting, sculpting, writing and the practice of medicine, to name a few.

Many paintings done at that time still stand in some of the finest museums and galleries in Paris and Europe.
This book is not written about only those who sailed to Europe for self-expression, but it accentuated the works of French masters also. Copying
paintings in the Louvre was practiced by numerous artists who wanted to untangle the mysteries of some of the finest current art at that time.

The American minister to France at that time was Elihu B. Washburne, who put his stamp on French diplomacy.

Many inventions were discovered by Americans such as Samuel F.B. Morse.

The writings of, for example, James Fenimore Cooper enlightened the French about the hardships and dangers that confronted American pioneers settling in the American west. American Indians put on an exhibition to show the French as to the history and customs of the different tribes.

There is not enough space to even begin to name all of many famous American and French intellectuals who opened up Paris as the beacon of the Arts.
"The greatest Journey..." will probably be used as a textbook in universities throughout the American and European institutes of higher learning. This book is an all encompassing study of those Americans who opted not to go west, but blazed the way for others to explore the confines of intellectual life in Paris and its communes."

This is to say that the American emigres immersed in the arts and the new field of international communication during this period contributed their knowledge and added to Parisian and French culture. Many of these new ideas are still reflected in French society although Paris did manage to retain its cherished identity as a city with a long established culture and a place of learning for all visitors who sought intellectual freedom and new ideas.

A phenomenal account of America's emergence into a fully realized nation. The author painted a compelling account of the education and impetus provided by Paris to our scientific and artistic development. His use of "stories" provided perfect object lessons.

I enjoyed this book very much. Mr. McCullough is a well known great writer and this book is another testament to that fact. I learned about many famous Americans who travelled to Paris to further their education. I liked the book so much that I ordered one for a friend.

he's a terrific writer - clear and concise in his writing. You can "see" the time period historically and feel that you are a part of that era. Interesting and informative to look at this in historical perspective. France was the great modernizer, artistically and scientifically, during this period in history. America had a lot to learn...

One of my all time favorites. Very intelligent approach to recounting history. Insights that have helped me better understand French culture and people. While the focus is 19th century, it is highly relevant today.

It should evolve into a "Greater Journey" Tour of Paris.

David McCullough has written another outstanding book. Why don't they teach history like this in school? Didn't realize I was so ignorant (which is usually the case with ignorance I guess) about all the Americans who went to France in the 19th century and brought back skills that helped make our country rich in arts and sciences. Must read!

Another wonderful street level look at the past and it’s impact on today’s world. David McCullough crafts this history lesson describing the lives of famous artists, physicians, politicians and writers to name a few, and the events that shaped their contributions to our world. McCullough’s writing style has made love history.

This is a fascinating book. It tells about how so many Americans went to live in Paris between the two wars. Artists, writers, their hangouts, what they did, a very unique view of the life of the expat community in France. I trusted it because the autor is unsurpassable.

As a David McCullough fan who is also interested in Paris, I really liked this book. McCullough describes 19th century Paris in wonderful physical, historical and cultural detail. He also does a fine job in giving credit to Paris for the impact it had on American growth and culture.

I was particularly impressed by the author's descriptions of medicine in the early 1800's. Paris was the world's leader, but the science was still amazingly primitive. It makes one very glad to be living in current times.

The sections on Morse, Cooper, Sargent, Cassat and others were enlightening though in a couple of cases, they went on too long. The coverage of the siege and revolution of 1870 was excellent. I also enjoyed the discussions of the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty and would have enjoyed reading even more on those topics.

My only complaint was that, as much as I enjoyed this book, it sometimes bogged down a bit. Overall though, it is a well written and most informative work that I would recommend to anyone interested in the topic

Anyone who has read David McCullough's earlier works would come to this book:

THE GREATER JOURNEY, with a large spoonful of anticipation. Throw away the

spoon ... get a large ladle.

Mr. McCullough transports one to a time and place that has become dimmer with

the passage of time, but he does so by conjoining his reader to a company of

fascinating people, themselves transported into a fascinating world that is

new and wondrously different than the world they have known.

The experience for the reader [as it must have been for those profiled] is not unlike

what one would expect upon exiting a Time Machine: no longer dim, nor distant,

but bright and sharp and clear; immediate and irresistible.

Bravo!

My book club, ladies, ages 60+, all avid readers, reviewed this book a couple of weeks ago. Out of 10 participants, i reviews were about 50/50 saying "Interesting" as the most positive comment, while the others thought it was "too much like a text-book". I though it was just OK !

Excellent, but then anything by David McCulloch always is. I gave this to my doctor when he left his local practice for a hospital in Maine. I thought he would appreciate the chapter about learning to be a doctor in Paris in the early days of medicine. Wonderful segments about artists and sculptors as well.fr

McCullough is like your favorite uncle telling you an inspiring story, especially if your uncle is a collage professor. This book is so informative and well documented, but never dry or boring. My only disappointment is that the story ended. I wanted to hear about every American that has ever gone to France. Thank you, Mr McCullough for all your great books.

Never realized that Paris dominated the world in terms of education, the arts and medicine. The author never really explained why that happened nor why it ended. I learned what made Mary Cassatt and Saint-Gaudens so special as artists and individuals

Once again David McCullough has come up with a fascinating slice of history -- to wit, the influence of Parisian culture on America's entry onto the world scene in the late 18th century. First came an avalanche of medical students intent on benefitting from France's advanced methods, not to mention its ample supply of cadavers. There followed a stream of those interested in the visual arts, not least of whom was Samuel F B Morse who, as McCullough explains in the latest issue of SMITHSONIAN, was devestated by the lack of interest in his gifts as a painter and so turned his attention to the invention of the telegraph along with the code of electrical impulses that bears his name. An absolutely intriguing read.

This will be a Christmas present for my daughter-in-law, who is French and has two children born in the United States, and educated in France and England. I haven't had time to more than dip into various chapters myself, but I suspect that it will be a welcome present.

Quite good and interesting, for me the part about the French Revolution was a bit uninteresting and dull, but the rest of the book was excellent, personal sketches of artists and famous people I'd long heard about, were very fascinating to discover! Recommended

Very entertaining and educational. Previously unknown history of famous Americans as they lived and studied in Paris. Included the horrible ravages of a cholera epidemic. Thoroughly enjoyed, and ready to read more of McCulloughs works.

If you like other works from McCullough, or you enjoy the type of writing style he employs, you will most likely love this book.

In the intro to another book of his, "Brave Companions", McCullough writes about his style, and how it might have derived from his original desire to be a portrait painter:

"....I am still drawn to the human subject, to people and their stories, more often than to large current issues or any particular field of academic inquiry. The explorer interests me more than geography, the ichthyologist more than his fish, Theodore Roosevelt before, say, the Progressive Movement. Not have I ever been able to disassociate people or stories from their settings, the "background." If character is destiny, so too, I believe, is terrain."........ "So the portraits here are often figures in a landscape"

The above applies to this book.

The human portraits he creates here are of extraordinary Americans who travel to Paris between the ~1830s and ~1900 in order to fine tune their chosen crafts in music, medicine, sculpting, painting, etc.. Their backdrops are times in history including the 1848 revolutions in France, the American Civil War, and the birth of modern medicine.

McCullough expertly weaves these interesting human stories together to give the reader a feeling of their exceptional journeys and of the times that they lived.

I never wanted this book to end. David McCullough has such a way of writing serious history, but explores the historical characters and events in such a way as to make the story vivid and immediate. Cannot recommend this book enough, even for those who are not history buffs.

Initially, I had expected this book to be tedious and uneventful. However, as the characters were developed and history unfolded, it became lively, colorful and enormously interesting, both from a historical as well as human perspective.

David McCullough has done it again! Fascinating book about Americans going to Paris in the 1800's and how their lives were impacted by their experiences. Upon returning to the United States, many of them exposed the United States to art, science, medicine, philosophy women's rights and inventions in a way that vastly improved our Country.

Daunting is size and feeling that I would skim through some of the pages, I find myself not only reading every written word, but accessing additional information about these great figures through the internet.

David McCullough once again writes history with a magic pen. Listening to his narrative on CD in the car, on the freeways of Los Angeles, made driving actually pleasurable. His description of the world in the 1800s , centered mostly in Paris, is clear and full of insights which make that world come alive -- in color and so satisfyingly three-dimensional. I was able to put so many events together in time -- for instance, the almost simultaneous construction of the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty in France. Artists, scientists, producers of every kind, historical and near-historical, walk the pages and become almost friends as we follow their careers from start to finish in many cases. i loved every syllable and then went to buy the book to enjoy at leisure!

Beautiful description of art, architecture, sculpture, medication, politician and war about Paris from American's perspective between 1820's and 1920's. Feel like to have a great conversation with all the greatest artists and heroes.

If you love Paris, love the arts and sciences, join the many Americans who shared your feelings, and journeyed to the City of Lights in the second half of the 19th Century. David McCullough, in the wonderfully written book, explores the stories of these visitors. He explains the growing interest in European travel in the 19th century, and beautifully describes the travels of many well known personalities. Whether it is John Sargeant Singer or Samuel Morse, each story is magnificently told and much is revealed. It flies by!

He loves McCullough but has not read this yet. How can you REQUIRE a 20 word critique on a large e-book that you have no idea if it has been read yet? He has difficulty reading due to vision problems so I think a critique is expecting a bit much in these items and I do not appreciate that it a 20 word critique is REQUIRED. Guess I will only use whispernet for my e-book purchases in the future.

What a great book. I taught American History for 20 years. I did not know many of these stories. I wish I had all of Mr. McCullough's researchers. This was a great book and I recommend it to every American or any one who wants to come here. It also makes me want to go to Paris........ to say the least.

I have been a David McCullough fan for years, and his "The Greater Journey" is no exception. His documentation of the lives of many famous American spending time in Paris in the 1800s is wonderful. He writes with such vivid descriptions of the people and places and events of that time. Hard to put down!

This book is immediately appealing because David McCoulough is such a master at placing the reader in the scene he describes, with very useful and intriguing description of the details of the environment. There is a sense of being there as history is developed in Paris and in this country that is compelling.

The book is interesting, but was somewhat plodding for me. If your primary interest is the world of art, it could be fascinating reading. The background historically, in Paris at that time was, to me, what kept me willing to read the entire book.

A facet of American history most are not familiar with. Many of the names are familiar such as James Whistler and Oliver Wendell Holmes but not their journey to Paris and throttling it had on them. I can't say it's a compelling page Turner but it is an interesting read.

I have no idea so many Americans artists, doctors, writers and diplomats traveled to Paris in the 1800's. To a man and women, they did a wonderful job acquiring significant knowledge in their field of interest with profound insight and inspiration. All this they brought back to our new country with many benefits we still enjoy today.

This amazing book complements my volunteer work as a tour guide in a modern art museum. Our museum's collection correlates well with the lives of the artists in the book, especially since many of them sailed to France, then Paris, to mingle with other creative individuals. After reading this book, I understood why many artists were "called" to Paris. It was cheaper than the states and the exposure to the French culture was not available any other way. It was quite a life!

There's quite a bit of American history in the book, but it is easy, enjoyable reading!

After reading "John Adams" and seeing David McCullough live for 3 hours on a Sunday C-Span 2, I think I read all of his works. Any writer who can rivet you to the pages of the Johnstown Flood, the building of The Brooklyn Bridge, the digging of The Panama Canal, and convince you to read Conrad Richter is a genius, and "The Greater Journey" merely reaffirms his greatness. McCullough should be mandatory reading in every school, college and university. My books shrink in the shadow of his accomplishments. Jack Mason. Accomac, Va.

David McCullough is a great writer and I have spent many enjoyable hours with his books. He always seems to come up with the telling anecdote that enables readers to understand the essense of the Panama Canal or the Brooklyn Bridge of John Adams or the Johnstown Flood.

The problem with this book is its lack of focus. Instead of a particular person or event, as was the case with his other books, this one focuses on a location -- Paris -- and the characters come and go. He deals with the Paris portion of dozens of lives, but then summarizes what they did in America and the book loses its focus. He tells you about James Whistler or Mary Cassatt or Henry Adams and he captures your attention, but then the charactrs go back to America and disappear for chapters at a time.

The result is not one great McCullough book, but a dozen incomplete McCullough books, leaving you hungry for the rest of the story. I learned a lot about Paris in the 19th century, but felt I never really got to know the characters as well as I wanted.

In the future, I hope McCullough focuses on his topics better and that he produces more books like John Adams or the Path Between the Seas or the Great Bridge, books that are truly masterpieces and the best in their class.