Paris and the River Seine

<p> The intertwined histories of Paris and of the River Seine are interesting but complicated. It is the Seine however with all its ports bridges boats commerce monuments and vistas that has always been the keystone in the arch of Paris life both in the past and now in the present. The great French medievalist Jean Favier (1932-2014) summed up its story in just six words: Paris is born of the Seine.</p><p> Paris may be known today as The City of Light but like most big cities it also has a sordid side. This book introduces to the reader not only the rich and the famous of Paris but also some of the unknown people of the Seine. These latter include traders police officers millers fishermen charlatans monkey handlers jugglers water carriers and the homeless men searching through the cold mud of the Seine trying to find a small gold ornament of some kind lost by a rich traveler passing by in a boat.</p>