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Rating: 
Summary: Great narrative of a fascinating period of French history
Review: Horne has written a wonderful narrative of the events preceding and the events of the Siege of Paris in 1870-71. Horne's style is captivating and I found that I could not put the book down. The complex relationships that 'good' historical narratives need to develop are very well constructed by Horne. The attention to minute detail is a strong point of this book. A throughly researched and emminently readable account. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great narrative of a fascinating period of French history
Review: Horne has written a wonderful narrative of the events preceding and the events of the Siege of Paris in 1870-71. Horne's style is captivating and I found that I could not put the book down. The complex relationships that 'good' historical narratives need to develop are very well constructed by Horne. The attention to minute detail is a strong point of this book. A throughly researched and emminently readable account. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Captures the excitement of the period
Review: Horne's style makes the story of the Paris siege and commune every bit as compelling, fast-moving and vivid as the best fiction. You get a real sense of the various characters of the period, the opportunistic, the proud, the inept, the comical and the horrific. Brings this exciting, tumultuous time to life with poetic language and insightful observations. I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.
Rating:
Summary: Captures the excitement of the period
Review: Horne's style makes the story of the Paris siege and commune every bit as compelling, fast-moving and vivid as the best fiction. You get a real sense of the various characters of the period, the opportunistic, the proud, the inept, the comical and the horrific. Brings this exciting, tumultuous time to life with poetic language and insightful observations. I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.
Rating:
Summary: Debacle
Review: Zola called the 1870 Battle of Sedan a "Debacle," and gave his fictionalized account of this event the same title. In that battle, which decimated the French Army and all but sealed Paris's fate, Emperor Napoleon III and the elan of the French infantry were simply no match for German generalship and Krupp cannon. Horne's "Fall of Paris" picks up from the Sedan debacle and explores what was, for most purposes, a much worse debacle, namely the ruinous siege of Paris, the capitulation and the subsequent civil unrest in which the Paris authorities refused to recognize the so-called "official" French government and instead instituted the Commune - a short-lived ultra-left government which itself was later suppressed by the reformed French Army. This is a tale virtually without large-scale heroes, yet which contains many indivisual acts of courage, notably in smuggling out news and keeping the population fed during the Siege. Horne writes with humanity; strange it is in this complex kaleidoscope of politics and motives that you can't even find the Prussians too villanous - even as they send trained falcons up to prey upon the carrier pigeons.
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