This is the diary of two supremely literate and intellectual men. They knew everyone who was an author and almost everyone who was a painter. A diary written by two people sounds awkward but they pulled it off beautifully.

They were sometimes prejudiced and perhaps unfair but they always reported accurately what they saw and experienced and they did not spare themselves. Their view of most women would please neither a feminist (or any woman probably) nor a Victorian.

This diary is a slice of the history of Paris from 1851 until 1870. To the Goncourts Paris was the whole world or at least all the world that mattered. Politics they generally ignored. For instance, they never mentioned the American Civil War (or any other). Wars were of no importance to them.

I do not know if anyone has ever been published their full diaries, much less in English. This book was composed of selected and edited entries. But it is still very much worth reading if you have any interest in the period. ( )