Left Bank Right Bank

Left Bank Right Bank is a kaleidoscopic journal of twenty years in Paris, from 1988 to 2008. During that time the Berlin Wall fell, the European Union was created, mass consumerism arrived in France, and 9/11 ushered in a new age of growing fear and xenophobia.

This is not deluxe, romantic Paris, but working, immigrant, Paris. The city is cracked open in unexpected ways as the narrator encounters not only Parisians – a chef, a fashion editor, a cutthroat businesswoman – but also a Chinese ar...