This classic collection of essays has already established itself as a rich source of material for students of sixteenth and seventeenth-century France. Natalie Davis focuses on the lower social orders - peasants, artisans, the poor generally - and in a series of brilliantly penetrating cast-studies throws fresh light on some of the great issues of social change: the impact of printing, the rise of protestantism, the role of women, power-relations between groups and classes'.