This innovative study analyzes Flora Tristan's correspondence with militant republicans, socialists and democrats active in the July Monarchy. It examines the role of the letter in fostering links at a time of a significant growth of literacy and search for citizenship by the disenfranchised. Combining a gendered analysis of socialist movements with a textual analysis of letters it illustrates the vitality of political tensions in Tristan's communications and the sophistication of political networks on the eve of the 1848 revolution.

"What have medieval nuns, parrot shooting, Freemasonry, and Shetland revelry got in common? This study of monastic orders, guilds, Freemasonry and friendly societies over centuries and across frontiers provides new insights into their contribution to the gendering of public space and the evolution of "separate spheres" in Europe"--