Americans in Paris

Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day which is celebrated on the 14th of July each year. Americans have had a love affair with France ever since they supported us in the American Revolution.


And Americans have been traveling to France (especially Paris) long before one could travel by airplane. They have come for the culture, the food, the fashion and the chance to reinvent themselves.

If you are looking to do a little armchair traveling, try these non-fiction books about the City of Lights. And raise a wine glass and say Vive la France!


The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David G. McCullough

David McCullough's latest title mixes the famous and obscure names and delivers capsule biographies of everyone to produce a colorful parade of educated, Victorian-era American travelers and their life-changing experiences in Paris.


Remembrance of Things Paris: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet edited by Ruth Reichl

Gourmet magazine has been delivering tasty reports on France's restaurants and cuisine to Americans ever since the end of World War II. This anthology collects the magazine's best essays, which document Paris's transformation over the years, and includes descriptions of such momentous events as the demise of the market at Les Halles and the development of nouvelle cuisine.

Paris in Love: A Memoir by Eloisa James

James is an academic and romance author who took her immediate family to Paris after she had some serious events take place in her life the year before. While her kids know Italian (thanks to her Italian husband) they do not know French and the family takes awhile to settle into their Paris neighborhood. James humorously shows the reader the minutia of daily life in Paris in short essays and vignettes. Her family grows closer together as the year progresses and the reader will wish that they could have taken the journey with them. A wonderful read.

Americans in Paris: A Literary Anthology edited by Adam Gopnik

Covering over three centuries of the American experience in Paris, this engaging and powerful anthology of letters, stories, and essays collects emotions of the heart and personal insights experienced by travelers trying to find happiness in the City of Light. Each selection engages the reader in a historical journey to a city that over the centuries has lured Americans, whether statesmen, soldiers, or tourists. The diverse pieces range from Benjamin Franklin's letter to Mary Stevenson in 1767, describing his first observations of the city, to fashion editor Diana Vreeland's memorable journeys to Paris as a representative of Harper's Bazaar after her reopening of the French collections following World War II. A regular who's who on who has been to Paris!