From a wealth of vivid autobiographical writings, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie reconstructs the extraordinary life of Thomas Platter and the lives of his sons. With masterful erudition, Le Roy Ladurie deepens and expands the historical contexts of these accounts and, in the process, brings to life the customs, perceptions, and character of an age poised at the threshold of modernity.
"Le Roy Ladurie paints a remarkably contemporary picture of life in the sixteenth century. . . . It's a good story, told with a deft narrative touch." Michael S. Kimmel, "The Nation"
"Le Roy Ladurie is a...

This is a story of brilliance, order and sophistication, of supreme confidence and great achievement - that begins in uncertainty and ends in iconoclasm.

In this second volume of the History of France series, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie provides a masterful account of the early modern period combining a compelling narrative with broad analysis of events and wider comparisons with European history.

The tithe is a levy characteristic of the agrarian ancien regime, and is of great interest to historians of traditional societies such as pre-1789 France and other countries of Europe and Latin America until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Measured and recorded from year to year, the tithe forms an indicator which, albeit very approximate, is nevertheless extremely valuable in revealing the trends in agricultural production (grain, wine, stockbreeding, etc.) over periods of years, decades or centuries. The book is in two parts. The first, by Joseph Goy, deals with theoretical...