This book, first published in 1983, attempts to examine the rural change in France between 1815 and 1914 with a sustained and explicit spatial approach. This volume represents a position in which space and time are meshed in an analysis of the forces underlying land-use that have contributed much to the making of the French landscape.

Preface; List of Tables; A Note on Place Names; 1. Purpose and Plan 2. Legacies of Empire 3. Underlying Forces 4. Fluctuating Fringes 5. Pivot of the Economy 6. Tradition and Innovation 7. The Advance of Livestock Husbandry 8. Polyculture to Specialisation 9. Devastation and Conservation 10. Sum of the Parts; Bibliography; Index