I didn’t know what to expect when I requested this title, but I found it to be throughly interesting. I just returned from my own trip to Marseille and reading this during my time there allowed me to see parts of the city in a way I wouldn’t have thought of and to experience things I wasn’t able to witness this time around in France’s second city. I’ll be thinking of this book and the things it opened my eyes to the next time I’m in France and in Marseille again.

This is an enjoyable book that provides snapshots of various aspects of Marseille, mostly relatively contemporary but with some historical interludes, through the eyes of its American author. With a knowledge of Marseille that didn't extend much beyond The Count of Monte Cristo, I felt like I learned a lot about the city without feeling like I was missing out from a lack of prior knowledge.

It is very obvious in this book that you are seeing Marseille through the eyes of an older American academic from New York City, but he's forthcoming about this and his honesty on his perspective makes the book stronger. If anything, the only way my enjoyment suffered was that the reader is assumed to have a personal knowledge of New York City that I lack--I know NYC about as well as I know Marseille, which is to say that I've of course consumed media set in both cities, but have never visited either.

All in all, both informative and enjoyable, and makes me want to visit one day.

“Marseille is for city lovers” – a statement with which this personal urban guide of the French capital of the Mediterranean opens. Whoever visited the MUCEM, the spectacular museum on the regenerated waterfront, experiences this sense of urban inspiration. Marseille – the port city – of France shares many of the features of post-industrial port cities. Compared to Rotterdam, Liverpool – other second cities – Marseilles’ climate and Mediterranean seems to lighten the miseries of the urban problems. I love to stroll in cities and am always interested in city guides that are able to introduce the reader to a history seen through a personal lens.
This is exactly what this book does.

The author William Kornblum is professor emeritus of sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, who fell in love with French culture in the early sixties when students ran the streets to support the Algerian movement of independence. He joined a group of young Americans that taught chemistry and physics in French in the Ivory Coast. He never gave up his travelling and exploring ambitions and since then remained attached to France and the francophone world. During these exchanges he became a regular visitor of Marseille, which gave him the opportunity to discover and read the spectacular history of this port city and its diverse populations. He meanders the city as a modern version of Walter Benjamin, who visited the city in the 1920s. Kornblum’s observations start – naturally I would say – in the Old Port, painted by Joseph Vernet (1753), at a time when the waterfront was not industrialized and when it was a meeting place for citizens to witness the lively docks.

One of his aims in visiting Marseille was to explore the ecological legacies of settlement and industry. This brings him to the Ruisseau des Aygalades, today an urbanized mountain stream of which the history encapsulates the Marseille’s port history, industrial growth and decline and the story of Marseilles super-diverse working class neighbourhoods. Like in other port cities or second cities these neighbourhoods reflect a disputed city on the edge. Like Rotterdam and Liverpool Marseille used the campaign for European Capital of Culture in 2013 to boost its image. From a comparative perspective Marseille is an interesting case-study to for larger issues on social inequality, racism, post-colonialism and the many challenges post-industrial port cities face in today.

This book in which personal stories, meetings, alternated with accurate sketches of Marseille’s history and colonial legacies is a must read for anybody who plans a city trip to this intriguing city on the Mediterranean.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A delightful trip back to my hometown.

Kornblum’s stories and descriptions are spot-on and lovely—he wields imagery so well, and captures so many of the feelings Marseille evokes. I’d been hoping for a bit more cultural insight, personal anecdotes, and observations, as well as some historical pieces, but the history portion overshadowed the rest. I think a marriage of the past and present would’ve been more effective, but it was still an enjoyable read. I’d recommend to any Marseilles-lovers and/or history readers!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

-A