Peter Jones is Professor of French History, University of Birmingham.

'Peter Jones [is] the most accomplished British historian of the French peasantry … his sensitivity to the patterns and concerns of rural life has a human feel of authenticity … Superb and innovative empirical research of this sort is a welcome counterpoint to the grander narratives which the French Revolution so understandably evokes.' The Times Literary Supplement

• List of illustrations; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Mise-en-scène; 2. The structures of village life towards the end of the ancien régime; 3. Agendas for change: 1787–1790; 4. A new civic landscape; 5. Sovereignty in the village; 6. Church and state in miniature; 7. Land of liberty?; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Peter Jones is Professor of French History, University of Birmingham.

'Peter Jones [is] the most accomplished British historian of the French peasantry … his sensitivity to the patterns and concerns of rural life has a human feel of authenticity … Superb and innovative empirical research of this sort is a welcome counterpoint to the grander narratives which the French Revolution so understandably evokes.' The Times Literary Supplement

• List of illustrations; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Mise-en-scène; 2. The structures of village life towards the end of the ancien régime; 3. Agendas for change: 1787–1790; 4. A new civic landscape; 5. Sovereignty in the village; 6. Church and state in miniature; 7. Land of liberty?; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Peter Jones is Professor of French History, University of Birmingham.

'Peter Jones [is] the most accomplished British historian of the French peasantry … his sensitivity to the patterns and concerns of rural life has a human feel of authenticity … Superb and innovative empirical research of this sort is a welcome counterpoint to the grander narratives which the French Revolution so understandably evokes.' The Times Literary Supplement

• List of illustrations; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Mise-en-scène; 2. The structures of village life towards the end of the ancien régime; 3. Agendas for change: 1787–1790; 4. A new civic landscape; 5. Sovereignty in the village; 6. Church and state in miniature; 7. Land of liberty?; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.