Showing results by author "Joan DeJean" in All Categories

Bloomsbury presents How Paris Became Paris by Joan DeJean, read by Patricia Rodriguez "This lively history charts the growth of Paris from a city of crowded alleyways and irregular buildings into a modern marvel."--New Yorker At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Paris was known for...

Today, it is difficult to imagine a living room without a sofa. When the first sofas on record were delivered in 17th-century France, the result was a radical reinvention of interior space. Symptomatic of a new age of casualness and comfort, the sofa ushered in an era known as the golden age of conversation; as the first piece of furniture designed for two, it was also considered an invitation to seduction. With the sofa came many other changes in interior space we now take for granted: private bedrooms, bathrooms, and the original living rooms.