'Eiffel's Tower' Audiobook Review

Audiobook: Eiffel's Tower: And the World's Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count by Jill Jonnes
Read by: Paul Hecht
Genre: Historical Nonfiction

With an upcoming trip to Paris, I was very excited to see this book at the library. Since my last (and first) trip to Paris, I've been collecting little Eiffel Towers trinkets, so learning more about its origins was enticing.

And what a great story! Even though it's a historical account of the 1889 Paris World's Fair and all its principal players, it's written more like a great work fiction.

The ambitious vision of Gustave Eiffel and this enormous undertaking -- to build an iron structure at such a miraculous height -- is inspiring. And he was a pretty decent guy, too. Then you have the story of Buffalo Bill Cody and his troupe of cowboys, Indians, horses, buffalo setting up camp on the outskirts of Paris and dazzling European audiences -- especially star Annie Oakley. Add to it the story of painters Gauguin and Van Gogh looking to make a big splash on the world stage. And Thomas Edison, the toast of the town for his inventions. All so amazing!

My favorite character was American newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr of the New York Herald. He managed his great New York newspaper and staff from a stylish flat in Paris, mostly by ruling with fear. He was infamous for his erratic behavior, firing reporters for almost no reason and keeping his staff on their toes. He spent large amounts of money on foreign correspondents, created a successful Paris version of the Herald and was often surrounded by a group of tiny dogs. What a character!

This book was chalk-full of interesting anecdotes and stories. And I really got a good sense of what a visitor to the great Paris Exposition fair grounds would have experienced -- including a ride up the famed Eiffel Tower.

The narrator was great, using accents -- French, British and American -- to tell the different point of views, as the story followed chronologically from the planning stages of the Exposition to its final days and years afterwards. 

The best part is I'll have lots of fun stories to bore my husband with as we stroll the Champs de Mars in a few weeks. 

Grade: Green Light

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