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Michael Giltz
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David McCullough , Ernest Hemingway , F. Scott Fitzgerald , Mary Cassatt , Oliver Wendell
Holmes , Samuel Norse , Books , Charles Sumner , History , Paris , Books News
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THE GREATER JOURNEY: AMERICANS IN PARIS BY DAVID MCCULLOUGH *** out of ****
$37.50 hardcover; SIMON & SCHUSTER
In 1831, Samuel Morse returned to Paris to begin what he believed would be the crowning achievement of
his life. Not the telegraph -- that would come later. Morse went straight to the Louvre to begin a painting.
One decade earlier he had produced House Of Representatives , a grand scale work that depicted the seat
of American democracy and featured some 80 people of note within it. It was very typical of a certaintype of "ambitious" art that would eventually fall out of favor.
This new work was in the same vein but even bolder. At the very least, it was bigger, measuring 6 feet by
9 feet -- if size meant anything at all to an American, why wouldn't it? The subject was the Louvre itself:Morse would capture a great hall of the famed museum and include 38 of his favorites works, includingDa Vinci's Mona Lisa . Morse's great friend, the writer James Fennimore Cooper, could barely keep
himself away and returned day after day to chart the painter's progress.
This style of painting -- one piece containing many smaller but bravura works or portraits within it -- is
exactly the model for author and historian David McCullough's new book The Greater Journey:
Americans In Paris. McCullough looks at the many artists, scientists, people of medicine and thinkers
who made the voyage back across the Atlantic to find inspiration and knowledge in the City of Lightsfrom roughly 1830 to the end of the century.
The Paris of the 1920s -- when Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald romanticized the life of the expat --
seems almost a backwater when compared to the flood of people that came there during these sixdecades.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. relished his medical studies in Paris while McCullough deftly
displays both how Paris was the center of medical knowledge at that time and how the Americanswho studied there would revolutionize care when they returned to the U.S.
Painter Mary Cassatt wasn't exactly embraced by Paris; women had a tough row to hoe there as
much as they would in the U.S. But Cassatt found admirers of her work (not, sadly, including her
The Twitter Typo That
Exposed Weiner
Engadget: WWDC 2011
liveblog: Steve Jobs talks iOS
5, OS X Lion, iCloud and
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Engadget: Live from
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Engadget: Engadget,
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own family) and would return at a low point and find her greatest inspiration with Degas and the
Impressionists.
The son of an immigrant cobbler, Augustus Saint-Gaudens came to Paris at the age of 19 and
worked his way up from crafting cameos to major commissions as a sculptor.
Charles Sumner came to study medicine but got his real education in race relations. He was
astonished to see black students working alongside white ones and it came like a revelation to himthat the bigoted attitude towards blacks in America was not the order of things but simply dumbignorance. Sumner would prove an ardent abolitionist and be nearly beaten to death on the floorof the Senate over his denunciation of slavery.
The stories keep coming, almost to their detriment. After a while, the tale of an American coming to
Paris, falling in love with the city, finding themselves artistically or philosophically and moving on to
great success does begin to blur a bit. In fact, The Great Journey does not have the compelling through-
line of most of McCullough's major works, like The Path Between The Seas (about the building of the
Panama Canal) or his biographies ( Truman, John Adams ).
But the spine that keeps you moving forward is McCullough's pocket history of Paris during one of its
most remarkable and bloody eras. He sketches the Franco-Prussian war (in which McCullough shines
with his depiction of American Ambassador Elihu Washburne and the man's steady and sober presence
that saved many lives) to the horrors of the Commune.
McCullough might have focused just on "The Medicals," as he calls the many Americans who traveled to
Paris for a proper education in medicine, returning the favor with their assistance during some of thebloodletting that century would feature. Their tales are some of the freshest and most unusual to befound here. But the book is bursting with such fascinating side-paths, and it would be churlish to call itover-stuffed with diversions. And yet, the stories do begin to lose their impact with so many of thembeing so similar in their broad outlines.
Like Morse's The Gallery Of The Louvre, McCullough fills his new book with deft mini-portraits of
numerous figures and gives them the dramatic history of Paris during the 1800s as a canvas. The Greater
Journey may not reach the greatness of his best, more focused works. But it will satisfy his fans and send
the curious off into a dozen directions to learn more about these people. And, if they're lucky, on a
pilgrimage to Paris.
*****
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
reviews .
NOTE: Michael Giltz was provided with a free copy of this book in galley and final form. He receives farmore books than he can cover and does not guarantee to review or write about any particular one.
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'Attack Of The Killer
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On Our Radar:
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Part of AOL LifestyleFRONT
PAGEPOLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TECH COMEDY STYLE WORLD FOOD HEALTHY
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Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
GET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ
Read more
David McCullough , Ernest Hemingway , F. Scott Fitzgerald , Mary Cassatt , Oliver Wendell
Holmes , Samuel Norse , Books , Charles Sumner , History , Paris , Books News
7
82
0
6React
Inspiring Funny Typical Important Outrageous Amazing Innovative BeautifulBooks: David McCullough's Latest
Tackles Americans in Paris
MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
Anthony Weiner Admits
Sending Racy Pictures,
Refuses To Resign
New Photos Emerge In
Anthony Weiner Twitter
Scandal FOLLOW US
PHOTOS Secretary:
The Rise And Fall
Of The Office WifePHOTOS: Grossest
And Weirdest Facts
Ever
25 Overlooked
Political Books Of
2011Most Amazing Art
Books And Their
Brilliant PublishersBIG NEWS: eBooks Literary Prizes eReaders Book Publishing NYR Smarter Ideas More Log in | Sign Up
News Web
Will You Be Taken Seriously If You're
A Woman Writing About Sex?
More In Books: Powerful Women
Authors... Emily Dickinson... 10 Geeky
Beach Reads...
Getting Kids To Read
Like 39
Posted: 05/25/11 09:37 AM ET
SHARE THIS STORY
Submit this story
Get Books Alerts
Sign UpPHOTO GALLERIES
Like 18K
Like 6KCONNECT
FRONT
PAGEPOLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TECH COMEDY STYLE WORLD FOOD HEALTHY
LIVINGIMPACT MORE LOCAL
Like 316K
THE GREATER JOURNEY: AMERICANS IN PARIS BY DAVID MCCULLOUGH *** out of ****
$37.50 hardcover; SIMON & SCHUSTER
In 1831, Samuel Morse returned to Paris to begin what he believed would be the crowning achievement of
his life. Not the telegraph -- that would come later. Morse went straight to the Louvre to begin a painting.
One decade earlier he had produced House Of Representatives , a grand scale work that depicted the seat
of American democracy and featured some 80 people of note within it. It was very typical of a certaintype of "ambitious" art that would eventually fall out of favor.
This new work was in the same vein but even bolder. At the very least, it was bigger, measuring 6 feet by
9 feet -- if size meant anything at all to an American, why wouldn't it? The subject was the Louvre itself:Morse would capture a great hall of the famed museum and include 38 of his favorites works, includingDa Vinci's Mona Lisa . Morse's great friend, the writer James Fennimore Cooper, could barely keep
himself away and returned day after day to chart the painter's progress.
This style of painting -- one piece containing many smaller but bravura works or portraits within it -- is
exactly the model for author and historian David McCullough's new book The Greater Journey:
Americans In Paris. McCullough looks at the many artists, scientists, people of medicine and thinkers
who made the voyage back across the Atlantic to find inspiration and knowledge in the City of Lightsfrom roughly 1830 to the end of the century.
The Paris of the 1920s -- when Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald romanticized the life of the expat --
seems almost a backwater when compared to the flood of people that came there during these sixdecades.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. relished his medical studies in Paris while McCullough deftly
displays both how Paris was the center of medical knowledge at that time and how the Americanswho studied there would revolutionize care when they returned to the U.S.
Painter Mary Cassatt wasn't exactly embraced by Paris; women had a tough row to hoe there as
much as they would in the U.S. But Cassatt found admirers of her work (not, sadly, including her
The Twitter Typo That
Exposed Weiner
Engadget: WWDC 2011
liveblog: Steve Jobs talks iOS
5, OS X Lion, iCloud and
more!
Engadget: Live from
Microsoft's E3 2011 keynote!
The Center for Public
Integrity FACT WATCH: Sarah
Palin's Twist on Paul Revere
E. Coli: Blame The Meat, Not
The Sprouts
Engadget: Live from
Nintendo's E3 2011 keynote!
Engadget: Engadget,
broadcasting live from
WWDC!
DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5
Rhea Perlman
Saving Children From the Child
Welfare System
Steven Chu
A Safe, Secure Nuclear Future
MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW 1 of 2
Like 1K
Like 13K
Like 475
Like 1K
Like 2K
Like 478
Like 3K
PHOTOS: Grossest And
Weirdest Facts Ever
WATCH Bill Moyers On
"Daily Show": 'A Lot Of
News Organizations No
Longer Do Much
Reporting'
own family) and would return at a low point and find her greatest inspiration with Degas and the
Impressionists.
The son of an immigrant cobbler, Augustus Saint-Gaudens came to Paris at the age of 19 and
worked his way up from crafting cameos to major commissions as a sculptor.
Charles Sumner came to study medicine but got his real education in race relations. He was
astonished to see black students working alongside white ones and it came like a revelation to himthat the bigoted attitude towards blacks in America was not the order of things but simply dumbignorance. Sumner would prove an ardent abolitionist and be nearly beaten to death on the floorof the Senate over his denunciation of slavery.
The stories keep coming, almost to their detriment. After a while, the tale of an American coming to
Paris, falling in love with the city, finding themselves artistically or philosophically and moving on to
great success does begin to blur a bit. In fact, The Great Journey does not have the compelling through-
line of most of McCullough's major works, like The Path Between The Seas (about the building of the
Panama Canal) or his biographies ( Truman, John Adams ).
But the spine that keeps you moving forward is McCullough's pocket history of Paris during one of its
most remarkable and bloody eras. He sketches the Franco-Prussian war (in which McCullough shines
with his depiction of American Ambassador Elihu Washburne and the man's steady and sober presence
that saved many lives) to the horrors of the Commune.
McCullough might have focused just on "The Medicals," as he calls the many Americans who traveled to
Paris for a proper education in medicine, returning the favor with their assistance during some of thebloodletting that century would feature. Their tales are some of the freshest and most unusual to befound here. But the book is bursting with such fascinating side-paths, and it would be churlish to call itover-stuffed with diversions. And yet, the stories do begin to lose their impact with so many of thembeing so similar in their broad outlines.
Like Morse's The Gallery Of The Louvre, McCullough fills his new book with deft mini-portraits of
numerous figures and gives them the dramatic history of Paris during the 1800s as a canvas. The Greater
Journey may not reach the greatness of his best, more focused works. But it will satisfy his fans and send
the curious off into a dozen directions to learn more about these people. And, if they're lucky, on a
pilgrimage to Paris.
*****
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
reviews .
NOTE: Michael Giltz was provided with a free copy of this book in galley and final form. He receives farmore books than he can cover and does not guarantee to review or write about any particular one.
HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3
HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2
HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
Jennifer Love
Hewitt
Movies
Science
2012
Speculatron
Education
NFL
Wine
The
Kardashians
The Schultz
Report Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Mom Is 55, Looks 30...
Clever Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick That Has Botox
Doctors Furious!
ConsumerHealthAlerts.com
SHOCKING: $200 Walmart GC for $12.87
TODAY ONLY: Unique site sells Walmart Gift Cardsup to 98% off retail!
NewsToday9.com/SHOCKING-Deals
2011 Top Tech Stock
Recently listed, tech patents, hot news! Radar RMGXtoday!
www.GreenGainers.com
MORE BIG NEWS PAGES »
How Many American
Women Would Rather Win
'Top Model' Than The
Nobel?
Like 3K
PHOTOS Secretary: The
Rise And Fall Of The
Office Wife
Like 594
azizansari
@azizansari : Nick Offerman wants
Oprah to play Ron's first ex-wife
Tammy. Spread the word!
http://huff.to/iXh6ut #OprahSwanson
stark
un nuevo estudio determina queMonsanto sabía desde 1980 que su
herbicida Roundup producedefectos de nacimiento:
http://huff.to/llwsR3
'Attack Of The Killer
Facts': Grossest
And...
On Our Radar:
What's New And
Hot...
'Saved By The Bell
Jar' And Other...
25 Overlooked
Political Books of
2011Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Penny Stock Jumping 3000%
Join our 100% Free Newsletter & get Penny Stock Picks that jump high!
www.AwesomePennyStocks.com
Mom Is 55, Looks 30...
Her clever $5 wrinkle therapy angers Botox Doctors. Find Out How!
ConsumerHealthAlerts.com
Part-Time Job $89/Hour:
No Experience Required. Just Home Internet Access!
www.WallStreetCareerJournal.com
Pres Reduces Mortgages
Mortgage Rates Hit 2.99% Calculate New Payment Now!
www.SeeRefinanceRates.com
More in Books...
BOOKS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT BESTSELLERS AUTHORS BOOK PUBLISHING
Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ
User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Contact Us
Copyright © 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
Part of AOL LifestyleFRONT
PAGEPOLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TECH COMEDY STYLE WORLD FOOD HEALTHY
LIVINGIMPACT MORE LOCAL