The coachmen of nineteenth-century Paris

Name: The coachmen of nineteenth-century Paris
Author: Nicholas Papayanis
ISBN: 0807118141

by Nicholas Papayanis (1993)

Read Free Sample Buy on Amazon Audible Free Trial

About this book

Historical writings and art and literature of the period depict the coachmen of nineteenth-century Paris in a variety of ways - from unflinchingly honest to unspeakably rude to utterly criminal. In this captivating book, Nicholas Papayanis sets about to penetrate the popular image of the coachman and present a realistic picture of this frequently maligned segment of the Paris population. On one level, The Coachmen of Nineteenth-Century Paris offers a definitive history of Paris cabbies, providing a sociological portrait of these workers, their backgrounds, marriage patterns, social networks, neighborhood choices, work experience, organizations, strikes, patterns of social mobility, response to technological change particularly the advent of the automobile and development of political and class consciousness. Most coachmen had migrated to Paris from outlying regions of France, a fact that Papayanis uses to illuminate the broader theme of the social integration of rural inhabitants into urban life. On another level, the book deals with the economic and structural history of the Paris cab trade, describing its organization and regulation, the impact it felt from major events like the Paris Expositions of 1879 and 1889, and the effect of government efforts to unify the cab trade under a municipal monopoly. Both as a focused investigation of urban service workers, hitherto unstudied in this period, and as an examination of transportation in the French capital during the era of the horse-drawn cab, the Coachmen of Nineteen the Century Paris is unparalleled. Papayanis concentrates on midcentury and thereafter, for from that time more than merely anecdotal material on coachmen is especially abundant. His research encompasses a remarkably broad range of sources, among them previously unexamined coachmen's newspapers, government statistical surveys, records of major cab companies, minutes of coachmen's union meetings, cab company contracts, and the private archives of the largest Parisian cab company of the nineteenth century, which include personnel files and the minutes of the company's executive committee. Rich in detail though the book is, Papayanis has sculpted this treasure of information into a readily grasped form that is a delight to read. The Coachmen of Nineteenth-Century Paris makes an important contribution to the fields of labor, social, urban, and transportation history. It fills a gap in the literature dealing with Paris and its working class, addresses questions concerning class consciousness and collective action against the nontraditional background of the male service worker, and tells the intriguing story of expanding public transportation in Paris.

Setting / LocationFrance

Story EraModern Era

Protagonist / CoreThe coachmen of nineteenth-century Paris Lead Character

Themes & Moods

History History Coaching (Transportation)Class consciousness Coach drivers Social classes, france Modern Era

Readers who enjoyed this also loved

Making Ireland Irish

Eric G.E. Zuelow

"From the dark shadow of civil war to the pastel-painted tourist towns of today, Making Ireland Irish provides a sweeping account of the evolution of the Irish tourist industry over the twentieth century. Drawing on an extensive array of previously untapped or underused sources, Eric G. E. Zuelow examines how a small group of tourism advocates, inspired by tourist development movements in countries such as France and Spain, worked tirelessly to convince their Irish compatriots that tourism was the secret to Ireland's success. Over time, tourism went from being a national joke to a national interest. Men and women from across Irish society joined in, eager to help shape their country and culture for visitors' eyes. The result was Ireland as it is depicted today, a land of blue skies, smiling faces, pastel towns, natural beauty, ancient history, and timeless traditions. With lucid prose and vivid detail, Zuelow explains how careful planning transformed Irish towns and villages from grey and unattractive to bright and inviting, sanitized Irish history to avoid offending Ireland's largest tourist market, the English, and supplanted traditional rural fairs revolving around muddy animals and featuring sexually suggestive ceremonies with new family-friendly festivals and events filling the tourist calendar today. By challenging existing notions that the Irish tourist product is either timeless or the consequence of colonialism, Zuelow demonstrates that the development of tourist imagery and Irish national identity was not the result of a handful of elites or a postcolonial legacy, but rather the product of an extended discussion that ultimately involved a broad cross-section of society, both inside and outside Ireland. Tourism, he argues, played a vital role in 'making Ireland Irish.'"--Publisher's website.

Squandered victory

James H. Hallas

Squandered Victory is the first book every devoted entirely to the St. Mihiel operation and its ramifications. It details American Expeditionary Force commander John J. Pershing's struggle to form an independent American army in France and the importance of the St. Mihiel operation from both political and military perspectives. Hallas links historical events and details in a way that has never been done on this subject, pulling from a variety of sources to depict motivations, events, and political and military thought. He supports the conclusion - debated by historians and military men for over 75 years - that Pershing might have been able to end the war in September 1918, if not held back by the machinations of the Allies.

Shoes for Anthony

Emma Kennedy

"This 1944 World War Two drama tells the story of Anthony, a boy living in a deprived Welsh village, anticipating the arrival of American troops. Suddenly, a German plane crashes into the village mountain. A Polish prisoner-of-war survives and is brought into the community where he builds a close relationship with Anthony. Later, the villagers discover one of the Germans on the plane has survived and is still on the mountain. Joyous, thrilling, and nostalgic, Emma Kennedy's Shoes For Anthony will have you wiping your eyes one moment and beaming from ear-to-ear the next. This is a small gem of a novel that reviewers (and readers) will cherish"--

Sexuality in world history

Peter N. Stearns

Examining sexuality in the past, and exploring how it helps explain sexuality in the present, this work uses a chronological structure to focus on major patterns and changes in sexuality in the main periods of world history, with comparison and discussion across cultures and societies.