The Eiffel Tower

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In 60 or so intense, almost luridly high-color photographs, Denker(photographer for Life, Paris-Match, Stern) focuses on the Eiffel Tower--from all sides and distances ranging from the far-off Place de Bastille to inside the "metal monstrosity," as some early (and eminent) detractors of the "giraffe . . . cyclops . . . skeleton . . . suppository" called La Tour. There are night shots taken from across the rooftops and river, and others taken at dawn in winter from a hundred yards off. Sagan's (Bonjour Tristesse) wry, entertaining history/appreciation of the tower describes why the structure is ascribed the feminine gender and her multi-purposes; what happens if one jumps from the second level (as opposed to the first); the tourists, among them acrobats, mountaineers, airmen, and employees and statesmen who frequent her. Included as well is a short biography of Gustave Eiffel, who made--and fought for--his tower. A number of black-and-white historical photos also accompany the text--Hitler on the Champs de Mars, Edith Piaf singing La Marseillaise from on high, etc.