Description: This volume provides an authoritative synthesis of recent work on the social history of France and is now thoroughly revised and updated to cover the 'long nineteenth century' from 1789-1914. Peter McPhee offers both a readable narrative and a distinctive, coherent argument about this century. McPhee explores themes such as peasant interaction with the environment, the changing experience of work and leisure, the nature of crime and protest, changing demographic patterns and family structure, the religious practices of workers and peasants, and the ideology and internal repercussions of colonisation.
Brief description:
Peter McPhee is Honorary Professorial Fellow at The University of Melbourne, Australia.
He has published widely on the history of modern France, including: A Social History of
France 1789-1914 (2004); Robespierre: a Revolutionary Life (2012); and Liberty or
Death: The French Revolution 1789-1799 (2016). Professor McPhee was elected a
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1997 and a Fellow of the
Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2003. Earlier that year he had received
the Centenary Medal for services to Australian education. In 2012, McPhee was made a
Member of the Order of Australia.
Review Quotes: "This second edition is welcome news indeed.... without question the most informed view of a dramatic and fascinating period, presenting France and its history in all its spectacularly rich variety."--John Merriman, Yale University