| Acknowledgments | 9 |
| A Note on How to Use the Book | 11 |
| Introduction | 13 |
| Chapter 1 | The Metro System: Creating a Way of Life | 16 |
| Chapter 2 | From Celts to Carolingians 52BC--987AD | 28 |
| Chapter 3 | The Capetians Create a Kingdom 987-1515 | 60 |
| Chapter 4 | Religion and the Monarchy 1515-1643 | 98 |
| Chapter 5 | Louis XIV: The Sun That Never Set 1643-1715 | 126 |
| Chapter 6 | Louis XV and the Age of Reason 1715-1774 | 142 |
| Chapter 7 | Louis XVI: Uneasy Calm Before the Storm 1774-1789 | 166 |
| Chapter 8 | The French Revolution: Life Will Never Be the Same 1789-1799 | 180 |
| Chapter 9 | Napoleon Bonaparte: The Revolution Usurped 1798-1815 | 210 |
| Chapter 10 | The Restoration Kings: France Flirts with Monarchy 1815-1848 | 239 |
| Chapter 11 | A Struggle between Republic and Empire 1848-1870 | 258 |
| Chapter 12 | Democracy Triumphs: The Paris Commune and The Third Republic 1870-1890 | 288 |
| Chapter 13 | New Century/Old Problems: War Begets War 1890--1939 | 314 |
| Chapter 14 | France in Peril: The Second World War 1939-1945 | 333 |
| Chapter 15 | Postwar France: Survival and Success 1945 to the Present | 359 |
| Chapter 16 | Miscellaneous Stations | 370 |
| Postscript | 375 |
| Appendix 1 | The 14 Lines of the Paris Metro | 377 |
| Appendix 2 | Kings, Emperors and Presidents of France | 384 |
| Selected Bibliography | 388 |
| Index | 394 |
