Jay M. Smith is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His most recent book is Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast (2011).

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Nobility After RevisionismPart I: Nobility and Economy1.Economies of Consumption: Political Economy and Noble Display in Eighteenth-Century FranceMichael Kwass2.A Divided Nobility: Status, Markets, and the Patrimonial State in the Old RegimeGail Bossenga3.The Noble Profession of Seigneur in Eighteenth-Century BurgundyRobert M. Schwartz4.Political Economy and the French Nobility, 1750–1789John ShovlinPart II: Nobility and Political Culture5.Noble Tax Exemption and the Long-Term Origins of the French Revolution: The Example of Provence, 1530s to 1789Rafe Blaufarb6.Women, Gender, and the Image of the Eighteenth-Century AristocracyMita Choudhury7.Nobles into Aristocrats, or How an Order Became a ConspiracyThomas E. KaiserPart III: Nobility and “Aristocratic Reaction”8.A Rhetoric of Aristocratic Reaction? Nobility in De l’Esprit des LoisJohnson Kent Wright9.The Making of an Aristocratic “Reactionary”: The Comte d’Escherny, Noble Honor, and the Abolition of Nobility Jay M. Smith10.The Memoirs of Lameth and the Reconciliation of Nobility and RevolutionDoina Pasca HarsanyiPart IV: Nobility and Modernity11.Nobles as Signifiers: French Nobles and the Historians, 1820–1960Jonathan DewaldFor Further ReadingList of ContributorsIndex

“Smith, well known for his studies of the French nobility, presents a stimulating collection of essays originally presented at a 2002 North Carolina Humanities Center symposium.Grouped under three themes—economy, political culture, and ‘aristocratic reaction’—the essays, an exceptional blend of broad overview and detailed specialization, highlight the interrelationship of political, social, and intellectual change.”—D. C. Baxter Choice

Jay M. Smith is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His most recent book is Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast (2011).

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Nobility After RevisionismPart I: Nobility and Economy1.Economies of Consumption: Political Economy and Noble Display in Eighteenth-Century FranceMichael Kwass2.A Divided Nobility: Status, Markets, and the Patrimonial State in the Old RegimeGail Bossenga3.The Noble Profession of Seigneur in Eighteenth-Century BurgundyRobert M. Schwartz4.Political Economy and the French Nobility, 1750–1789John ShovlinPart II: Nobility and Political Culture5.Noble Tax Exemption and the Long-Term Origins of the French Revolution: The Example of Provence, 1530s to 1789Rafe Blaufarb6.Women, Gender, and the Image of the Eighteenth-Century AristocracyMita Choudhury7.Nobles into Aristocrats, or How an Order Became a ConspiracyThomas E. KaiserPart III: Nobility and “Aristocratic Reaction”8.A Rhetoric of Aristocratic Reaction? Nobility in De l’Esprit des LoisJohnson Kent Wright9.The Making of an Aristocratic “Reactionary”: The Comte d’Escherny, Noble Honor, and the Abolition of Nobility Jay M. Smith10.The Memoirs of Lameth and the Reconciliation of Nobility and RevolutionDoina Pasca HarsanyiPart IV: Nobility and Modernity11.Nobles as Signifiers: French Nobles and the Historians, 1820–1960Jonathan DewaldFor Further ReadingList of ContributorsIndex

“Smith, well known for his studies of the French nobility, presents a stimulating collection of essays originally presented at a 2002 North Carolina Humanities Center symposium.Grouped under three themes—economy, political culture, and ‘aristocratic reaction’—the essays, an exceptional blend of broad overview and detailed specialization, highlight the interrelationship of political, social, and intellectual change.”—D. C. Baxter Choice

Jay M. Smith is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His most recent book is Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast (2011).

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Nobility After RevisionismPart I: Nobility and Economy1.Economies of Consumption: Political Economy and Noble Display in Eighteenth-Century FranceMichael Kwass2.A Divided Nobility: Status, Markets, and the Patrimonial State in the Old RegimeGail Bossenga3.The Noble Profession of Seigneur in Eighteenth-Century BurgundyRobert M. Schwartz4.Political Economy and the French Nobility, 1750–1789John ShovlinPart II: Nobility and Political Culture5.Noble Tax Exemption and the Long-Term Origins of the French Revolution: The Example of Provence, 1530s to 1789Rafe Blaufarb6.Women, Gender, and the Image of the Eighteenth-Century AristocracyMita Choudhury7.Nobles into Aristocrats, or How an Order Became a ConspiracyThomas E. KaiserPart III: Nobility and “Aristocratic Reaction”8.A Rhetoric of Aristocratic Reaction? Nobility in De l’Esprit des LoisJohnson Kent Wright9.The Making of an Aristocratic “Reactionary”: The Comte d’Escherny, Noble Honor, and the Abolition of Nobility Jay M. Smith10.The Memoirs of Lameth and the Reconciliation of Nobility and RevolutionDoina Pasca HarsanyiPart IV: Nobility and Modernity11.Nobles as Signifiers: French Nobles and the Historians, 1820–1960Jonathan DewaldFor Further ReadingList of ContributorsIndex

“Smith, well known for his studies of the French nobility, presents a stimulating collection of essays originally presented at a 2002 North Carolina Humanities Center symposium.Grouped under three themes—economy, political culture, and ‘aristocratic reaction’—the essays, an exceptional blend of broad overview and detailed specialization, highlight the interrelationship of political, social, and intellectual change.”—D. C. Baxter Choice