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

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: The State, the Peasantry, and the Revolution
1. Louis XIV Builds a Peasant Kingdom
2. A Bureaucratic State in the Making
3· Village Assemblies and the General Will
4· The Politics of Agriculture
5· Challenging the Seigneurie: Community and Contention on the Eve of the Revolution
6. The Limits of Reform
7· Financing the French Revolution
Bibliography
Index

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.
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1988.
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 rel