TRANSFORMING PARIS - LIFE & LABORS OF BARON HAUSSMANN

This is a hard to find book and a great opportunity to pick up a copy at a very cheap price! 

Today's Paris is largely the legacy of Baron Haussmann, who created the 'City of Lights' during the last half of the nineteenth century.  Although neither architect nor engineer, Haussmann reshaped France's capital during his seventeen years as Prefect of the Seine under Napoleon III.  The baron demolished much of crowded medieval Paris and replaced it with grand boulevards, majestic spaces, and triumphant monuments.  Set against the political intrigue and social upheavals of the era of the Commune and the revolutions of 1848, this book reveals how Haussmann gained the power to remake the city.

This 455 page softcover is ex-library and as such has all the usual stamps and stickers.  There is a contact covering to cover and there is a spine crease.  Although not as tight as when new all pages are very much intact  and appears to have had little use for a library copy.  An interesting read!