Society and Culture in Early Modern France - Softcover

a One of the most brilliant and original historians active... Each of these essays bears the imprint of Davisa s distinctive style, a style which is characterized above all by the exceptional range of perspectives which she brings to bear on whatever subject she discusses.a Journal of Modern History a No historian of our time has a more immediate and vital sense of the past than Dr Davis, and none has been more ingenious and persistent in putting the smallest piece of evidence to work in order to recover the sights, the sounds, and the sensations of a world that we have lost.a J H Elliott, The Sixteenth--Century Journal

This classic collection of essays has already established itself as a rich source of material for students of sixteenth and seventeenth--century France. Natalie Davis focuses on the lower social orders -- peasants, artisans, the poor generally -- and in a series of brilliantly penetrating cast--studies throws fresh light on some of the great issues of social change: the impact of printing, the rise of protestantism, the role of women, power--relations between groups and classesa .