Another fascinating book is "The Greater Journey, Americans in Paris" by David McCullough. It's the story of adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, architects, politicians and others of high aspirations who went to Paris between 1830 & 1900 to study under the French masters to improve their skills and bring the results back to our new country. It describes how they survived the siege of Paris, Napoleon III's takeover of government and many other travails. It's informative and spellbinding reading.
Jim