French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Rustenholz, De la banlieue rouge au Grand Paris. D'Ivry à Clichy et de Saint-Ouen à Charenton
History, Politics and Society
De la banlieue rouge au Grand Paris - D'Ivry à Clichy et de Saint-Ouen à Charenton
Alain Rustenholz
Éric Hazan (Preface)
Automobiles and matches, printing houses and laundries, ball bearings, batteries, and pins: a book filled with factory names that resonate like poetic memories, a Grand Tour through each of the 25 municipalities forming Paris's inner ring, an account of the strikes of the summer of 1936 and of May 1968, political struggles, and the Resistance...
A clear-eyed book that refuses to accept the foretold disaster of the Grand Paris envisioned by urban planners and real estate developers. Alain Rustenholz
Alain Rustenholz is the author of some twenty books, primarily dedicated to Parisian history: Traversée de Paris (2010), Paris ouvrier (2012), Journées capitales (2013).
Alain Rustenholz contributes to the established tradition of popular urban history and historical geography focused on the Parisian region, tracing the physical and social transformations of the capital's surrounding territories. Works in this field frequently examine the complex relationship between industrialization, municipal administration, and working-class organization across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The municipalities forming the inner ring of Paris have long served as primary sites for both manufacturing production and significant labor activism, shaping the broader political identity often associated with the region.
Readers interested in the social history of the Parisian banlieue and the evolution of metropolitan spaces may find this study relevant. The book covers the industrial past of localities in the inner ring of Paris, alongside accounts of strikes, political struggles, and the Resistance. Additionally, the text reflects a perspective that refuses to accept the foretold disaster of the Grand Paris envisioned by urban planners and real estate developers.