Microcosms: The History of France on a Human Scale

Who hasn't dreamed of exploring French history with those who lived it? Of experiencing it "at ground level"?

We usually observe it from above, from the perspective of monarchs, "heroes," and other "great figures." We also scrutinize it from afar: it's the history of the masses—soldiers, women, workers, etc.

Microcosmes prioritizes immersion: exploring French history from within, to make it more familiar. Alongside twelve figures, anonymous or little-known, who, hidden in the shadows of the past, give it unprecedented life! Twelve microcosms, twelve eras, twelve embodied worlds, like so many back-and-forths between "grand" and "small" history that, magnifying glass in hand, complement and question our vision of the past.

Between each era, thirteen interludes present the work of historians, their methods, their debates, their uncertainties... Because knowing history also means knowing how it is written.

Yann Bouvier, a well-known history professor and videographer, has imagined in these pages the meeting of microstoria and popular popularization. He delivers accessible, rigorous texts, reviewed by eminent specialists, and brought to life with accuracy and lightness by illustrator Éloi Chevallier. A lively narrative, enriched with the latest knowledge... and punctuated with humor.

(Re)discover French history... on a human scale!

Prefaced by Alain Corbin

From 14 to 99 years old!

SUMMARY:
- Roman Gaul - Caius Iulius Vindex
- Central Middle Ages - Ademar of Chabannes
- Late Middle Ages - The Bourgeois of Paris
- French Renaissance - Antoine Escalin, known as Polin
- Absolutism - Claude Brousson
- The Revolution - Solitude
- From one Empire to another - Louis-François Pinagot
- The Paris Commune - Nathalie Le Mel, née Duval
- The First World War - Frédéric Branche
- The Roaring Twenties - Mireille Havet
- The Second World War - Jeanine Morisse, alias Niquou
- Contemporary History - Zakia