"A walker's guide to Paris, taking us through its past, present and possible futures Eric Hazan, author of the acclaimed The Invention of Paris, leads us by the hand in this walk from Ivry to Saint-Denis, roughly following the meridian that divides Paris into east and west, and passing such familiar landmarks as the Luxembourg Gardens, the Pompidou Centre, the Gare du Nord and Montmartre, as well as little-known alleyways and arcades. Filled with historical anecdotes, geographical observations and literary references, Hazan's walk guides us through an unknown Paris. He shows us how, through planning and modernisation, the city's revolutionary past has been erased in order to enforce a reactionary future; but by walking and observation, he shows us how we can regain our knowledge of the radical past of the city of Robespierre, the Commune, Sartre and the May '68 uprising. And by drawing on his own life story, as surgeon, publisher and social critic, Hazan vividly illustrates a radical life lived in the city of revolution"-- "Eric Hazan, author of the acclaimed The Invention of Paris, takes us by the hand in this walk from Ivry to Saint-Denis, more or less following the dividing line between the east and west of Paris, or what you could call the "Paris meridian." He chose this itinerary without much consideration, but later on it became clear to him that it was no accident, that this line followed the meanders of his life, begun close to the Luxembourg garden, led for a long time opposite the Observatoire, and continued further to the east, in Belleville, his current home, but with long spells in the meantime in Barbès and on the north side of the Montmartre hill. Under the effect of the peerless mental exercise that is walking, memories rise to the surface street by street, even very distant fragments of the past on the border of forgetfulness. In this walk across Paris, almost every step evokes for the author memories of childhood and adolescence, his study and practice of medicine, and eventually his work as a publisher, along with those of the city and its successive layers of epochs and events"--