BALLAD OF THE ANARCHIST BANDITS The Crime Spree that Gripped Belle Epoque Paris

This audiobook looks beyond the opulence of Paris in the Belle poque, exploring the civil unrest--and ultimately extreme violence--brought on by political corruption, worker exploitation, and deep class divides. With narrator Peter Ganim's buttery smooth voice and excellent French pronunciations, the present day fades away, and early 1900s Paris comes alive. Ganim evokes images of a grand city teeming with artistic and industrial progress, then dispassionately describes in detail the hopeless plight of the lower-class workers. As a result, listeners can feel on a visceral level the dissonance between two versions of the same city. Sympathy for the violent anarchists and their crime spree may be a step too far, but listeners are asked to consider how systematic oppression can lead to extreme actions. A.T.N. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2017]