Baguley, David, Napoleon III and His Regime: An Extravaganza, Louisiana State University Press, 2000.

In this book, readers meet Napoleon III who dismantled France's republic and took it upon himself to establish a dictatorship. This nephew of the more famous Bonaparte lived in his uncle's shadow but tried desperately to outshine him.

Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain, Notre-Dame de Paris, Harry N. Abrams, 1998.

Critics highly recommend a slow reading of this beautiful book that portrays the long history and the architectural accomplishments of one of the Middle Age's most magnificent buildings.

Kelly, Linda, The Young Romantics: Victor Hugo, Sainte-Beuve, Vigny, Dumas, Musset, and George Sand and Their Friendships, Feuds, and Loves in the French Romantic Revolution, Random House, 1976.

Kelly provides a good background study of the early authors of the French Romantic Movement.

Yors, Jan, The Gypsies, Waveland Press, 1989.

When he was only twelve years old, Jan Yors ran...