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Zusatztext 'Peter McPhee's new book is both an admirable synthesis of recent work on the French Second Republic and an effort of his own to explain why peasants made the political choices they did... McPhee's command of the literature is impressive as is his ability to shape it into a framework of narrative and analysis that does justice to the complexity of the issues at hand. McPhee makes a provocative case for the relative autonomy of rural politics and for the need to view that politics on its own terms.Edward Berenson, Journal of Historical Geography, No. 20, Vol. 1, 1994 Klappentext This is the first full scholarly study of rural politics in France during the Second Republic (1848-1952). The Revolution of 1848 and the subsequent liberation of political life changed the face of mass politics in rural France. Unprecedented numbers of French men and women participated in legal and illegal forms of political activity during a period of protracted crisis ultimately resolved by a military coup d'etat. Peter McPhee's book draws on hundreds of regional studies to examine the large-scale political mobilizations of right and left in the countryside, and offers a new synthesis and interpretation of these years. Dr. McPhee shows that rural politics were both more complex and more threatening to urban elites than has been generally recognized. This is a lucid and challenging analysis of a turbulent period in modern French history and its long-term social and political consequences. Zusammenfassung Peter McPhee has written the first full scholarly study of rural politics in France during the Second Republic (1848-1852). The Revolution of 1848 and the subsequent regime changed the face of mass politics in France; unprecedented numbers of French men and women participated in legal and illegal forms of political activity during a period of protracted crisis ultimately resolved by a military coup d'état.In exploring the neglected history of rural France in this period, the book draws on hundreds of regional studies to examine the large-scale political mobilizations of right and left in the countryside, and offers a new synthesis and interpretation of these years. Dr McPhee shows that rural politics were both more complex and more threatening to urban élites than has been generally recognized, and provides a lucid and scholarly analysis of a turbulent period in modern French history and its long-term social and political consequences....
