The Greater Journey:Americans in Paris

Reading Greater Journey is easier than drawing David McCullough off a Charlie Rose interview,

I'm longing to get my hands on The Greater Journey:Americans in Paris
When it arrived (Thanks to Simon & Schuster) I was a bit overwhelmed by the size and scale of 'Journey'. This was not a book I could take on the subway. Then Penelope Rowland of Paris Was Ours, said she'd heard terrific things about a reading of the first chapter last summer and I plunged in. In fact I bought the audio version read by Edward Herrmann. It's been playing non-stop, perfect for both subway and Maine next week.

McCullough fools you a bit by beginning with a managable cast of characters on the first few pages: James Fenimore Cooper, Samuel Morse, Charles Sumner, Emma Willard, Oliver Wendel Holmes, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassat, as they charge off in the 1830's for their first taste of Paris.

He even takes you with them on the boatride over. You're drawn intimately into their lives via diary entries, conversations, quotes and anacdotes - who they met, where, when, even what they ate, what they read... They certainly read the Galignani 'Messenger' put out by Paris' first English bookstore, morning and evening editions. These adventurous Americans ate at Le Vefour in the Palais Royal gardens..

'The French seemed to take every meal in public, even breakfast, and whenever dining, showed not the slightest sign of hurry or impatience. It was as if they had nothing else to do but sit and chatter and savor what seemed to Americans absurdly small portions. Or sip their wine ever so slowly..'

Well that hasn't changed has it?

'There are few things bought with money that are more delightful than a French breakfast. If you take it in your room, it appears in the shape of two small vessels, one of coffee and one of hot milk, two kinds of bread, with a thin, printed slice of butter, and one or two of some thirty dishes from which you can choose, the latter flavored exquisitely enough to make one wish to be always at breakfast..."

'But then Paris was a continuing lesson in the enjoyment to be found in such simple unhurried occupations as a walk in a garden or watching children at play or just sitting observing the human cavalcade. One learned to take time to savor life, much as one took time to savor a good meal or a glass of wine. The French called it "l'"entente de la vie,' the harmony of life.'

I could quote endlessly from The Greater Journey...

But walk they did more often than not, and were amazed by the thousands of Parisians doing the same...

I've yet to read a better description of Baron Haussmann's architectual creation of Paris as we know it today.

McCullough weaves a rich tapestry with an ever mushrooming cast of characters, yet you're completely enthralled. He's a great story teller. You really care about these people. And so many of their experiences of Paris are ours even today.
Don't miss the video on the Amazon page.

He wanted to create a 'guidebook' that would answer his questions about these Americans in Paris, what they brought back and how it changed the US. It does not disappoint.

BONJOUR THE GREATER JOURNEY!