one but he could have written this book, which is grounded in impressively extensive archival research, yet which wears its archival learning elegantly and lightly.' - Colin Jones, Queen Mary University of London, UK
'This impressivebook is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the complex story of construction in Paris during the late-Old Regime and the Revolution.' - K. Steven Vincent, North Carolina University, The European Legacy
'Constructing Paris is an authoritative history of the capital's building trades in a period of dramatic political change. Tracing how 'three dreams of commerce' corporatism, statism, and liberalism combined to shape Paris' construction industry, Potofsky powerfully illuminates the distinctive characteristics of French capitalism in the age of the French Revolution.' - Michael Kwass, The John Hopkins University, USA
'No one knows more about the Parisian construction industry in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century than Allan Potofsky. He has worked in and published on this field for some years now, and the range of archival research in this book attests to his deep knowledge.' - James R. Farr, Purdue University