A splendid job...put[s] flesh on the bones of a small society and a corner of France that stand out more clearly thanks to his work. -- Eugen Weber American Historical Review An outstanding example of 'speculative history'from one of France's greatest social and cultural historians... Masterfully translated by Arthur Goldhammer, this work will be particularly fascinating for all those who are willing to accept its speculative aspects and who appreciate the possibilities of imaginative history written with honesty and grace. Choice Corbin has achieved a scholarly triumph. Publishers Weekly Corbin puts the pieces of this lifetime together in a way that is rich in insight. -- Theresa M. McBride The Historian This work is a product of a renowned historian's quest to study ordinary people instead of elites... Arguing that the current social history of ordinary people is based on the traces left by very unusual people who are wrongly taken to be spokesmen for the rest, Corbin seeks to rectify this by studying someone so obscure, unimportant, and anonymous as to be totally unremembered. -- Iorweth Prothero Labour/Le Travail