A towering feat in Paris—and figures of fame

NONFICTION
It's an icon, a unique and beloved symbol, an edifice of enduring significance. As Jill Jonnes writes in "Eiffel's Tower," it's "the most celebrated and instantly recognizable structure in the world."

And as France and Francophiles worldwide mark its 120th anniversary, Jonnes' rollicking account of the Eiffel Tower's rowdy debut is an occasion for celebration itself.

Chalk that up to not only the tower itself but also to the eclectic cast of characters who gathered for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris and the tower's introduction to a sometimes skeptical world.

Three years earlier, when millionaire railroad engineer Gustave Eiffel won the commission to create the centerpiece for Paris' Exposition Universelle, the iron tower he envisioned was denounced as ugly and unsafe. But Eiffel forged ahead, risking his reputation and his fortune -- and fighting bureaucratic and aesthetic complaints, lawsuits and sarcasm.

One problem seemed nearly intractable: the installation of elevators. Because of the tower's curves, one elevator would not suffice, and the engineering was so complex that the fair -- and the tower -- opened before the elevators were ready. Eventually, all came right, and visitors were not forced to climb hundreds of steps to the top.

Eiffel envisioned the tower as more than a tourist attraction and installed weather-monitoring stations, an upscale apartment for himself and even a tiny newsroom for Paris' Figaro.

Meanwhile, the world's most beautiful city was becoming the world's hub, as the high and the mighty, tourists and tourist magnets descended upon Paris for the fair. Jonnes gives all their due as she combines history with humor in recounting the visits of:

• William "Buffalo Bill" Cody and his Wild West show, featuring a charming Ohioan, sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Parisians flocked to see her display her skills, as well as the bevy of American Indians who were part of the show.

• Artists such as the peevish James McNeill Whistler and the ambitious Paul Gauguin. Whistler pulled his works from the American exhibition when room could not be found for all of them. Gauguin's contribution consisted only of one of his Martinique paintings and three Brittany pastels to the French exhibition; the lack of recognition disappointed him, but he gloried in the fair's delights. As Jonnes writes, "All over the fair, novel sensations, dramas, and amusements abounded." Not the least of the amusements was the battling between Americans and the French over the quality of the art on display.

• Thomas Edison, in town to promote his new and improved phonograph. Feted, banqueted and generally worshipped, Edison looked with amusement on the visit of an Italian cavaliere on a mission from his king. As Jonnes writes, "His Highess had been so dazzled by Edison's gift of a phonograph that he was (via the Cavaliere) conferring the title of count upon the American inventor. When Edison, who had been partially deaf since his teens, grasped the cavaliere's message, he gave a hearty laugh." More to the great inventor's taste was being the recipient of "the highest possible rank for a foreigner in [France's] Legion of Honor: commander."

And then there were the stunts: Two young men "took turns pushing each other in a wheelbarrow the 750 miles from the city of Vienna to Paris in thirty days." A Russian dragoon "rode 1,600 miles on his two horses, Diana and Vlaga, from his garrison in Poltava in the Ukraine to Paris, also in thirty days." And a maker of champagne who commissioned the building of the world's largest oaken wine cask -- it could hold enough wine to fill 200,000 bottles -- had it transported 90 miles by 10 pair of oxen.

With flair and marvelously descriptive, "you-are-there" prose, Jonnes gives "Eiffel's Tower" the immediacy that only a talented writer can bestow on history. Adding to the book's impact are the numerous photos of the tower, the fair and the people who came to see them; among the most touching is one of the French artist Rosa Bonheur at her easel, painting Buffalo Bill.

With witty writing and solid scholarship (the footnotes are particularly impressive), Jonnes weaves these crazy fragments into a beautiful quilt. At least one quirky factoid per page means the entertainment -- it's painlessly educational -- never stops, and the reader is left in awe of this lofty achievement of popular history.

As elegant and eccentric as its subject, "Eiffel's Tower" sparkles with the power of conviction and the passion of creation.

Contact Jay Strafford at (804) 649-6698 or .