• David McCullough, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, New York: Simon & Shuster, 2011, 558 pages, $37.50.
Now in his 80s, David McCullough once again has produced an outstanding historical account of American and French history. In his latest book, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, McCullough chronicles the stories of a group of eclectic Americans who traveled to Paris between 1830 and 1900. From the moment they step onto the boats, McCullough provides an in-depth look at the individuals undertaking the dangerous journey to live in Paris. True to his method of presenting historical information, McCullough does not just look at the individuals; he gives the reader a detailed history of the events that are shaping America and Paris during these years.
His eclectic groups of travelers were artists, doctors, and writers that came from almost all of the 24 states of that time. Most were “young men in their 20s, well-educated, and reasonably well off,” writes McCullough. Some were older, including James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans; Samuel F.B. Morse, painter and inventor of the telegraph and Morse code; and Emma Willard, founder of the Emma Willard’s Troy Female Seminary, who was a strong advocate for providing higher education for women in America.
The joy of arriving in France was coupled with the shock of how old everything looked compared to the newness of the buildings in young America. On the overland trip to Paris, the cathedral at Rouen was like nothing any of them had ever seen before. The site caused Cooper to remark that the “common feeling among them was that it had been worth the trip across the Atlantic if only to see this.”
Undertaking the journey to Paris was not an easy one. Most had never been to sea, nor did they speak French. The ships were at the mercy of the wind, and the journey took more than a month. By 1838, the steam engine would reduce the journey to 17 days and enable passengers to enjoy luxury travel. Accounts of how the rocking ship required everyone to grab plates and dinnerware on the tables are humorous, but the accounts of seasickness are not.
One of the unique writing techniques that McCullough utilizes is to give physical descriptions of the individuals he is profiling. For example, he writes that they were “of all shapes and sizes. Oliver Wendell Holmes was a small gentile smiling man … five feet three inches,” while his friend Charles Sumner “ stood a gaunt six feet two.” In another signal aspect of his writing, McCullough provides pictures of people and places, allowing readers the luxury of seeing the physical characteristics of the people and the places he is describing.
Paris was known as the “City of Light.” No other city offered as much in the way of education in the arts and in medicine. The travelers would be thrilled with the Louvre, but seeing the Garden of the Tulleries with its, as Cooper noted, “little or no drapery,” was shocking.
The cast of travelers is long and reads like a who’s who of American artists, writers, and notable physicians. McCullough provides his usual in-depth look at each individual traveler. Morse the inventor is just one of the many people whose personal stories are revealed through McCullough’s research. Renowned for his painting of Lafayette, Morse would travel to Paris and undertake a 6-by-9-foot painting depicting a room containing many of the famous works displayed at the Louvre, only to become so discouraged at not being chosen to depict one of the historic panels at the capital that he gave up painting. McCullough points out that had “he not stopped painting when he did, no successful electromagnetic telegraph would have happened when it did.”
When it came to medicine, Paris was considered the most notable place to gain knowledge about every area. But readers will be shocked when they learn that the eminent surgeon Guillaume Dupuytren used no anesthetics when doing amputations and other surgeries, nor did he wash his hands or sterilize instraments, so most patients died from infection. But French women, unlike American women, saw no problem with being examined and talking about their symptoms, giving the American students the advantage of a vast wealth of information about female maladies.
The years between 1830 and 1900 in Paris, like in America, would see a multitude of changes. But as bloody as the American Civil War was, nothing would match the bloody wars and uprisings Paris experienced. One of the worst was the 1871 uprising. McCullough uses the extensive writings from American Ambassador Elihu B. Washburne’s diary to illustrate the horrendous, shocking events that pitted Parisians against Parisians. The 1871 uprising was a bloodbath, and major parts of the city were burned to the ground.
David McCullough’s books are not a quick or an easy read, and The Greater Journey is no exception. The cast of characters and historical information are extensive and detailed. However, like his other books, his approach is so engaging that you do not want to put the book down. It leaves the reader wanting to know more and read more of the works by writers like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Victor Hugo, and James Fenimore Copper. I found myself longing to go to Paris and see the Louvre. Samuel Morse’s painting done at the Louvre is hanging at the National Gallery through July 2012, and I plan to go to Washington, D.C., to see it. Once again, David McCullough has produced a great work of historical significance that is worth taking the time to read.