A Social and Cultural History of Early Modern France

A magisterial history of French society between the end of the middle ages and the Revolution by one of the world's leading authorities on early modern France. Using colorful examples and incorporating the latest scholarship, William Beik conveys the distinctiveness of early modern society and identifies the cultural practices that defined the lives of people at all levels of society. Painting a vivid picture of the realities of everyday life, he reveals how society functioned and how the different classes interacted. In addition to chapters on nobles, peasants, city people, and the court, the book sheds new light on the Catholic church, the army, popular protest, the culture of violence, gendered relations, and sociability. This is a major new work that restores the ancien r gime as a key epoch in its own right and not simply as the prelude to the coming Revolution.

Author: William Beik
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 05/14/2009
Pages: 420
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.10w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780521709569

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2009

About the Author
Beik, William: - William Beik is Emeritus Professor of History at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. His previous publications include Urban Protest in Seventeenth-Century France: The Culture of Retribution (1997) and Louis XIV and Absolutism: A Study with Documents (2000).