Twilight of the Belle Epoque: The Paris of Picasso, Stravinsky, Proust, Renault, Marie Curie, Gertrude Stein, and Their Friends through the Great War by Mary McAuliffe 2014 forthcoming

Mary McAuliffe is the author of five highly regarded books on French history.   Twilight of the Belle Epoch focuses on Paris from 1901 to 1918.  These years were ones of great art, literature, as well as scientific and automotive development.  Among the great figures of the era most focused upon are Picasso, Marie Curie, Rodin, the car manufacturers and designers of the era, the sculpture Rodin, and writers Marcel Proust, Emile Zola, and Gertrude Stein.  

I found this a very interesting and at times fascinating work.  It is a bit rambling and maybe could be better organized but it is crammed full of things about French culture of the era I was delighted to learn.  For example, there is a very valuable account of the automotive creations of Renault and Citroen.  Both men were passionate about creating an artistically beautiful, powerful and faster and faster car.  Both were personally into auto racing and McAuliffe helped me understand how this relates to the social environment of the time. A lot of space is devoted to the visual arts, focusing mostly on the lives of Debussy, Toulouse Lautrec, and Picasso.  McAuliffe lays out the economics behind their art.  She also spends a lot of time on the sex life of the Rodin.  I am currently reading Proust and have read a bit of Zola so I really enjoyed the sections on them.  I did wish, and this is not a criticism, she had covered more writers.  McAuliffe also details the career of the Curries.  

This book will interest readers interested in the period.  I am glad I read it.

In the interest of full disclosure I received a free copy of this book.

Mel u