The Scandalous Love of Héloise and Abelard
1. LETTERS, in Betty Radice, ed. & trans., The Letters of Abelard and Héloise (London: Penguin, 1974).
Louis IX and the Dark Side of Sainthood
1. Robert Chazan, The Trial of the Talmud: Paris, 1240.
Olympe de Gouges: Robespierre’s Victim
1. Eric Hazan, A People’s History of the French Revolution.
Going Sane with Michel de Montaigne
1. Michel de Montaigne, The Essays: A Selection, trans. M. A. Screech.
2. Michel de Montaigne, The Essays: A Selection, trans. M. A. Screech.
3. Qtd. in Montaigne: A Biography, 1965, by Donald M. Frame.
Simone Weil: Soul on Fire
1. Tony Judt, “Historian’s Progress,” New York Review of Books, March 11, 2010.
2. Alice Kaplan, The Collaborator.
3. Simone Pétrement, Simone Weil: A Life.
Benghabrit, Jews, and the Gestapo
1. Robert Satloff, Among the Righteous: Lost Stories of the Holocaust from Arab Lands.
2. Eric Hazan, The Invention of Paris: A History in Footsteps.
3. Amir Jalal Zerdoumi, “French-Algerian or Algerian-French?,” New York Times. See also George Packer’s “The Other France,” August 31, 2015, The New Yorker.
Voltaire: Dying Intact
1. Roger Pearson, Voltaire Almighty: A Life in Pursuit of Freedom.
2. Nancy Mitford, Voltaire in Love.
3. Ian Davidson, Voltaire in Exile.
Albert Camus: Conscience of His Generation
1. Olivier Todd, Albert Camus: A Life. Todd’s biography is the source of most of the details and quotations cited here.
2. Robert Zaretsky, A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning.
3. Patrick McCarthy, Camus.
4. Albert Camus, Notebooks: 1951–1959, trans. Ryan Bloom.
5. Albert Camus, Notebooks: 1951–1959, trans. Ryan Bloom.
Jean Moulin: Hero of the Resistance
1. Julian Jackson, France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944.
2. M. R. D. Foot, Six Faces of Courage: True Stories of World War II Resistance Fighters.
3. In 1973, the old train station was replaced by the city’s first skyscraper, the ugly Tour Montparnasse, adjacent to the new train station. An elevator goes to the “Panoramic” floor, worth the thirty-eight seconds it takes to ride to the top and see its great view of Paris.
Alberto Giacometti: What You See Is What There Is
1. John Berger, “Alberto Giacometti” in Portraits: John Berger on Artists.
2. James Lord, Giacometti: A Biography, the beautifully written source of most details of the artist’s life cited in this book.
Francis Poulenc’s Soul Music
1. Hélène de Wendel, ed., Poulenc: Correspondence 1915–1963.
2. Alan Riding, And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris.
3. An introduction to his music is on YouTube, Poulenc playing his Les Animaux Modèles inspired by La Fontaine’s Fables, and his Aubade, a choreographic poem for piano and eighteen instruments. His masterpieces are available on Deutsche Grammophone.
Raising Hell in Pigalle: François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows
1. The Ninth is a maze. Bring along the folding pocket-sized (3 ½ × 8 inches) Streetwise Paris or the 4 × 6-inch Paris par Arrondissements.
2. Luc Sante, The Other Paris.
3. Antoine de Baecque and Serge Toubiana, Truffaut: A Biography. A comprehensive biography, the source of my information about Truffaut’s life.
4. François Truffaut, The Films in My Life. He saw four thousand films between 1940 and 1955, was regarded by other critics as a “living cinémathèque.” He praised many American films, and all the work of Alfred Hitchcock.
Patrick Modiano’s Missing Persons
1. Eric Hazan, The Invention of Paris: A History in Footsteps.
2. Luc Sante, The Other Paris.
3. Murielle Neveux, Paris Criminel.
4. Patrick Modiano, Pedigree.
Reine Margot: Legends and Lies
1. Nancy Goldstone, The Rival Queens: Catherine de Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal That Ignited a Kingdom.
Ninon de l’Enclos: Voltaire’s First Courtesan
1. Joan DeJean, How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City.
2. Madame de Sévigné, Letters, ed. Leonard Tancock.
3. Joan DeJean, How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City.
4. Robertson and Overton, Life, Letters & Epicurean Philosophy of Ninon de l’Enclos: The Celebrated Beauty of the Seventeenth Century.
Édith Piaf: The Little Sparrow