Description
Book SynopsisDespite their importance during the French Revolution, the Paris middle classes are little known. This book focuses on the family organization and the political role of the Paris commercial middle classes, using as a case study the Faubourg St. Marcel and particularly the parish of St. MÃdard.
Trade ReviewDavid Garrioch’s new book boasts a veritably mouth-watering title. Those who know Dr. Garrioch’s earlier work on neighbourhood and community in eighteenth-century Paris will not be disappointed by the quality of his research and the extent of the archival sources on which his work is based—there has been page-turning and carton-wielding of heroic proportions behind this study. Very unusual for a work of this type, moreover, is the character of those sources: Dr. Garrioch draws extremely copiously on the archives of local self-government in Paris—parishional, ecclesiastical and police archives, plus the riches of the Minutier Central—to delineate a middle class captured essentially in terms of its engagement in local politics… This is a book which reads extremely well and which offers a thought-provoking new angle on a number of major problems of contemporary historiographical concern… Dr. Garrioch’s brave study highlights the importance of the development of the bourgeoisie in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century France, and underlines the need for an even more inclusive recounting of their history. -- Colin Jones * Journal of French History [UK] *
This is a very significant contribution to French history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This account, which does not neglect economic change, offers a whole series of interesting new takes on the subject of the bourgeoisie. -- Sarah Maza, author of
Private Lives and Public Affairs: The Causes Célèbres of Prerevolutionary FranceTable of ContentsPart I The Jansenist years: the work of Satan; the elect; the ruling families; power and local politics. Part II The changing of the guard: the decline of lineage; the new families and the new politics. Part III Revolution: the revolution in local politics. Part IV Paris of the notables, 1795-1830: interregnum; commerce, science, administration; the tutelage of the State.
