Andrew Trout's chronicle of Paris during the period preceding the end of Louis XIV's reign is a fascinating history of the city anchored by the lives of two of its most famous citizens. Beginning with the emergence of Cardinal Richelieu as a political force and concluding with Louis XIV in the last years of his reign, Trout's narrative describes the city as it looked during the seventeenth century and touches on a myriad of interesting questions: Did Paris have sidewalks? Did the houses have numbers?

Were residential buildings flush with the street? What were the views like along the River Seine? Illustrated with maps and engravings that bring the city to life, Trout's book offers a view of Paris that is unequaled. City on the Seine: Paris in the Time of Richelieu and Louis XIV, 1614-1715 is an engaging and indispensable work of social history.