Water carrier

The Story Behind “The Parisian Water-Carrier”

Who was the "Parisian water-carrier" depicted in eighteenth-century French sculptor Edme Bouchardon’s sketches, and how did he earn his living?
Jeanna Moreau

Jeanne Moreau and the Birth of Cool

The French actress Jeanne Moreau worked with directors Truffaut, Duras, Buñuel, Renoir, Antonioni, Fassbinder, and Orson Welles.
Ballooners

Why Hot Air Balloons Never Really (Ahem) Took Off

More than two centuries after the invention of ballooning, Steve Fossett became the first person to solo circumnavigate the world in a balloon.
Maison de Verre Paris

What Makes a Glass House the Ideal Home for a Communist Gynecologist?

Paris’s Maison de Verre is a marvel of modernist architecture whose rarely seen interior was constructed to foster sociality.
Minitel 1 computer

Thank Minitel for the French Election

Minitel gave the French a very specific experience of the digital realm, compared with other places where networked information arrived via the internet.
Marquis de Lafayette

Foreign Intervention… in the American Revolution

Foreign powers have been interfering in our politics since day one, when we welcomed it from France, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Madame Bovary illustration

What Madame Bovary Revealed About the Freedom of the Press

Gustave Flaubert was put on trial for obscenity. Why didn't he fight government censorship harder?
Eiffel Tower

A Short History of Paris for Travelers

Read up on some of the fascinating history of the City of Lights before you head off on your next romantic vacation.
Albert Anker, Fortune Teller

The Surprising Historical Significance of Fortune-Telling

The possible futures predicted by fortune-telling happen just often enough to tantalize, preying on our deepest aspirations of catching a "big break."
Marie Antoinette hair

The Political Power of Marie Antoinette’s Hair

With the help of a French hairdresser, Marie Antoinette embarked on what initially appeared to be a happily fated alliance between the Habsburgs and the Bourbons.