From the bustling Marché d'Aligre market to the comparatively new Opéra Bastille, the Place de la Bastille is among the Paris's most richly protean areas. Also known as the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, the Bastille quarter has long been a bastion of working-class solidarity and a regular site of political agitation--such as the infamous storming of the Bastille. Home to a popular and sometimes raffish nightlife scene in the early twentieth century, it now serves an ethnically and socially mixed community while bearing many traces of its vibrant past. From the earliest days to the present, Keith Reader offers here a fascinating look at the rich historical and cultural geography of the Place de la Bastille. For readers keen to explore this remarkable area firsthand, the book also includes a map and walking tour.