A must read for Francophiles. I wish she would write a book like this on EVERY arrondissement in Paris, not just St. Germain-des-pres!

Read this book with google earth and a good street map like mapquest on your computer. It is so fun to look up the streets mentioned in the book. Then you can google info about all those historical names and battles that are mentioned.

I've enjoyed other books by Diane Johnson more than this, but it provides an interesting exploration of the arrondissement (St.-Germain) in which she lives in Paris ... with a primary focus on the history of the 17th century. The 20th and 21st centuries receive a rather cursory treatment, but then, that wasn't her plan. Her basic goal seems to have been to learn as much as possible about the apartment she lives in and the street she lives on ... who else lived near and about at various times in history ... how has the quarter changed over time? There is a great deal of information about the religious wars.

I've read books about other quarters of Paris ... the Marais, for example. There seems to be a desire among expat Americans to dig into the history of their Paris home. This isn't the best. But I can understand the impulse. When I first moved into my 1916 bungalow in Calumet City, I hit the historical society and local library trying to learn more about my new old house and this community, which hasn't nearly the history of Johnson's fabulous St.-Germain-des-Prés. And the book is definitely well researched.

I enjoyed the historical aspect of this book, but it is not light reading.

Just had to read this after coming back from Paris this summer...

historical travelogue of St Germain De Pres

Sympathetic vignettes of quarters, not much else.