The Great Cat Massacre

And Other Episodes in French Cultural History

Nonfiction, History, Modern, 18th Century, France, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology
Cover of the book The Great Cat Massacre by Robert Darnton, Basic Books
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Author: Robert Darnton ISBN: 9780465010486
Publisher: Basic Books Publication: May 12, 2009
Imprint: Basic Books Language: English
Author: Robert Darnton
ISBN: 9780465010486
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication: May 12, 2009
Imprint: Basic Books
Language: English

The landmark history of France and French culture in the eighteenth-century, a winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

When the apprentices of a Paris printing shop in the 1730s held a series of mock trials and then hanged all the cats they could lay their hands on, why did they find it so hilariously funny that they choked with laughter when they reenacted it in pantomime some twenty times?

Why in the eighteenth-century version of Little Red Riding Hood did the wolf eat the child at the end?

What did the anonymous townsman of Montpelier have in mind when he kept an exhaustive dossier on all the activities of his native city?

These are some of the provocative questions the distinguished Harvard historian Robert Darnton answers The Great Cat Massacre, a kaleidoscopic view of European culture during in what we like to call "The Age of Enlightenment." A classic of European history, it is an essential starting point for understanding Enlightenment France.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The landmark history of France and French culture in the eighteenth-century, a winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

When the apprentices of a Paris printing shop in the 1730s held a series of mock trials and then hanged all the cats they could lay their hands on, why did they find it so hilariously funny that they choked with laughter when they reenacted it in pantomime some twenty times?

Why in the eighteenth-century version of Little Red Riding Hood did the wolf eat the child at the end?

What did the anonymous townsman of Montpelier have in mind when he kept an exhaustive dossier on all the activities of his native city?

These are some of the provocative questions the distinguished Harvard historian Robert Darnton answers The Great Cat Massacre, a kaleidoscopic view of European culture during in what we like to call "The Age of Enlightenment." A classic of European history, it is an essential starting point for understanding Enlightenment France.

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