{Warning: This post includes graphic descriptions of domestic violence and discusses a case of suicide.} In the summer of 2003, I was an intern reporter […]
It was during some routine research on the history of Montmartre’s jazz scene that I came across a figure I’d been woefully ignorant of: Ada […]
Despite holding a significant place in the annals of French revolutionary history, Olympe de Gouges is hardly a household name. Many will easily recognize figures […]
It’s been years since I started following the writing and recipes of David Lebovitz, a pastry chef and bestselling author of cookbooks and memoirs such […]
It’s a sprawling Avenue famous not only for its expensive sidewalk brasseries and high-end shops, but also for its headache-inducing traffic, noise and air pollution. […]
Many people interested in American contributions to Parisian art or literary history beeline to the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz, but couldn’t tell you where […]
Especially since I became a dual Franco-American citizen, I’ve been fascinated by the “dialogic” nature of the American and French Revolutions. By that, I mean […]
Victor Hugo is a French writer whose presence continues to loom large in the city he called home for much of his life. Best known […]
While the art of the witty quotation is often attributed to English-speaking writers and thinkers– from Wilde to Swift– comparable quips in French tend to […]
When most people think of Josephine Baker, they imagine her dancing in some glamorous Paris venue at the height of the jazz age. While this […]
Many tourists stumble on Saint-Germain-des-Prés, an upscale Parisian neighborhood with centuries-old literary, revolutionary and artistic roots, while thinking they’re still in the adjoining Latin Quarter. […]
I’ve pulled up an interview from my archives: a conversation with one of France’s celebrated chocolate-makers. It was originally published on About.com Paris Travel in […]
Montparnasse Cemetery, opened in 1824, sits on a site that was once occupied by three farms– in what was then a rural, sleepy corner of […]
{Editor’s Note: In July 2025, the historic premises of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière closed its doors. There is a new location (at 2, […]
Referring to the legendary Parisian brasserie on Boulevard de Montparnasse, French historian Georges Viaud once remarked: “If the tables [here] could talk, they would tell […]
First opened in 1766 as “La Maison Lapérouse”, this distinguished restaurant and bar situated smack on the banks of the Seine is a favorite spot for […]
Affectionately dubbed “the little sparrow” and “la môme” (the kid) in France, Edith Piaf is a musical legend who has (rather surprisingly?) resonated with successive generations […]
In June 2017, France lost Simone Veil, one of the most important figures in the long battle for women’s rights. Little-known outside the French-speaking world, […]
The Women’s Marches were initiated in 2017, just a day after the inauguration of a new American President who’s bragged about sexual assault and shown […]
