The lives of ordinary Parisians in the 18th century are the topic of this study. Through the experiences of men, women and children, Farge traces the solidarities and conflicts which arose between men and women, rich and poor, masters and servants, neighbours and colleagues. The author deals with three arenas of conflict and solidarity: the home, the workplace and the street.

An exquisite appreciation of the distinctive rewards of historical research and a classic guide to the personal yet disciplined craft of discovery, now in its first English translation.

Arlette Farge's Le Gout de l'archive is widely regarded as a historiographical classic. While combing through two-hundred-year-old judicial records from the Archives of the Bastille, historian Farge was struck by the extraordinarily intimate portrayal they provided of the lives of the poor in pre-Revolutionary France, especially women. She was seduced by the sensuality of old...