"A Love Letter to Paris"

American photojournalist Peter Turnley's black-and-white photos published in "French Kiss - A Love Letter to Paris," are a moving testimony to his belief that the "essential beauty, dignity, and elegance of the values of the Paris heart and culture will always prevail." This even as the city and France struggle to cope with the terror attacks earlier this month that left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.

In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris this year in January, Turnley wrote, "It is essential to be strong in the face of aggression, but the only true source of power is love, and nowhere can one learn more about that than in Paris."

Turnley has had an ongoing love affair with his adopted home for 40 years, since arriving there as a young man in 1975. As was the case with many artists who sought out the city and made it their home, its cultural life and beauty inspired his creative passions. It was also the home of his photographic heroes: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau and Andre Kertez among many others.

Paris was Turnley's base over the years as he traveled the world covering a multitude of historic events as both a contract photographer for Newsweek (where he had 43 cover photos) and as a freelancer for international publications, including National Geographic, Paris Match, Life, the New Yorker and the London Sunday Times. He is a photographer intimately familiar with wars and global tragedies, having covered the 1991 Gulf War and conflicts in the Balkans, Rwanda, South Africa and Israel. But for him, Paris was -- and still is -- a reminder of the beauty in life and the joy that can be found waiting on every street corner.

In the forward of his book, Turnley writes, "This is my love letter to Paris. It is an expression of my profound gratitude to this city and to the many people whose paths I have crossed here. Like a kiss, I offer here an expression of hope and love for our present and our future."

His photos capture Paris' joie de vivre -- the eternal spirit of a city and its people.

View photos from "French Kiss: A Love Letter to Paris" in the gallery above. Peter Turnley's book is available for sale exclusively on his website, peterturnley.com

Radhika Chalasani is the senior photo editor at CBSNews.com -On Twitter