The Origins of Contemporary France, Complete Table of Contents

The six-volume study traces the political, social, intellectual, and institutional evolution that produced contemporary France. It begins with a detailed dissection of the Ancien Régime’s structures, privileges, and local and public services, then examines aristocratic and courtly manners, social life, and their psychological effects. It analyzes intellectual currents and doctrines, juxtaposing scientific methods and classicist tendencies, and follows how these ideas, institutional tensions, and popular movements propelled the revolutionary era through successive phases. Later volumes interpret the consolidation of centralized authority and the reconfiguration of institutions in the modern regime, offering an analytical account of institutions, morals, and collective character.