... an incontestable success ... In sum, a small book of exceptional quality which should become the basic manual for the study of 19th century French society. L'Histoire It is an excellent synthesis of the current historical research into nineteenth-century French society ... concise and informative. New Zealand Journal of French Studies The level of detail provided is remarkable. There are 486 references in the book's thematic bibliography, and throughout its dense length Charle offers a new statistic or specific example on almost every page, while managing to avoid an excessively dry recital of others' work. [...]This book should be read, for its erudition and the vast amount of information that it contains. Modern and Contemporary France [An] informative and vigorously argued textbook on the period 1815-1914. History