Description
Book SynopsisLéon Harmel is a penetrating study of the French industrialist who from 1870 to 1914 advanced social Catholic and Christian democratic movements by improving factory conditions and empowering workers. Joan Coffey's fascinating new book represents the first major study of Léon Harmel in English.
Harmel's model factory at Val-des-Bois demonstrated that mutual accord and respect were possible between labor and management. Harmel turned his profitable spinning mill into a Christian corporation. His ethical business practices captured the attention of Pope Leo XIII and inspired his encyclical Rerum Novarum. Harmel also encouraged his workers to make pilgrimages to Rome. The collaboration of Pope Leo XIII and Léon Harmel laid the foundation of enterprises that collectively became known as Christian democracy.
Drawing on extensive archival sources, including the Vatican Archives, Joan Coffey's work skillfully analyzes the personal relationship between Pope Leo
Trade Review
“Léon Harmel makes a major contribution to understanding the Catholic social tradition by documenting his significant influence on Catholic social teaching. . . . We can be grateful for the legacy of [Joan Coffey’s] impressive scholarship . . . [and] intellectual biography of Léon Harmel.” —Cistercian Studies Quarterly 39.3 (2004)
“Until now, no biography of Léon Harmel has appeared in English. Coffey has addressed this need, offering fresh perspectives on a leading figure in the French Catholic social reform movement. . . . This model of careful scholarship and felicitous style deserves to be read by all students of modern French history.” —Choice
"The biography becomes a veritable life and times and as such can be recommended not only to the specialist but to a much wider range of interested students and readers." —Catholic Historical Review
“[This is] an engaging study." —American Historical Review
“It is to the credit of his biographer that she turns to the best sources so as to give us an exact account of a man of action who engaged in the debates of his time and devoted himself to those undertakings that he knew he could see through.” —Journal of Markets and Morality
“Coffey’s wording throughout is clear and authoritative, never evasive or biased. . . . [O]ne must conclude that she accomplished her goal: a fresh history of a French industrial reformer, consistently interesting as it passes through his youth, his family business, his ideas and ventures, and his influences on others.” —Catholic Library World
Table of ContentsFamily history and legacy -- The corporation at Val Des Bois -- The world beyond -- Pilgrimage to Rome -- New directions.
