The example of Old Regime France provides a source for many of the ideas about capitalism, modernization, and peasant protest that concern social scientists today. Hilton Root challenges traditional assumptions and proposes a new interpretation of the relationship between state and society.

Hilton L. Root is Bers Professor of Social Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

"An ambitious book. . . . This is a bold rethinking of very important developments in eighteenth-century France."—James R. Farr, Journal of Social History

"An impressive contribution to the study of the development of absolutism, early capitalism, and peasant conservatism."—Thomas F. Sheppard, American Historical Review

"The author's arguments are clearly crafted and convincing. . . . Should be read by all those interested in rural political behavior."—William Brustein, Peasant Studies

"For anyone interested in European state-building, capitalist development, or the background to the French Revolution, this book is must reading."—Jack A. Goldstone, Contemporary Sociology