SOURCE: Cobb, Richard. “Quite Wise During the Events.” Spectator 260, no. 8328 (20 February 1988): 26-7.

In the following review, Cobb assesses the events and personalities described in Paris Notebooks.

There are a good many moments in modern French history that it would have been best to have missed. Often it was just a matter of getting out of Paris early on. In July, 1830, one would not have had to go any further than Rambouillet. In June, 1848, the prudent Parisian could have headed for the Vexin or the Beauce, or, indeed, anywhere within easy reach west of Paris: an eastern exit was not to be recommended. In March-May, 1871, the sensible thing would have been to have gone to Versailles, though there might have been difficulty in getting a bed (there would have been plenty of beds in the villages beyond); trains were both leaving Paris and coming into it throughout the Commune...