Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Map of France, 1786 xii
5. Introduction 1
6. I. The Assembly of Notables: February–May 1787, November–December 1788
7. 1. Paths to Political Consciousness: The Notables in the First Assembly, February–May 1787 11
8. 2. Privilege, Property, and Participation: A Mutation in Elite Political Culture 34
9. 3. The Society of Orders at Its Demise: The Vision of the Elite at the End of the Ancien Régime 61
10. II. The Media and the Public: Networks of Information, Opinion, Instruction
11. 4. Political News as Coded Messages: The Parisian and Provincial Press, 1787–1788 91
12. 5. The Foreign French-Language Press: Gazettes 112
13. 6. The Foreign French-Language Press: Journals of Opinion 125
14. 7. Manuscript Newsletters—Nouvelles à la Main 136
15. 8. Pamphlets and Other Writings: A Network of Political Education and Polemics 167
16. 9. Readers and Reading Sites: The Public and the Network of the Printed and Written Media 194
17. 10. The Verbal, the Visual, and the Festive 208
18. III. At the Grass Roots
19. 11. “Popular” Pamphlets: Political Messages to the Public 253
20. 12. Can We Hear the Voices of Peasants? 292
21. 13. The Grass Roots: Local Judges and Community Assemblies Speak Out 324
22. Conclusion 365
23. Appendix A. Chronology 373
24. Appendix B. Contemporary Accounts of Fêtes, 1787–1788 377
25. Notes 383
26. Index 471