Barricades

Book excerpt: Between 1830 and 1848, Paris was rocked by two successful revolutions, three failed insurrections, and seven serious assassination attempts against King Louis-Phillippe and his sons. The June Days of 1848 - the worst urban insurrection in history until that time - finally brought this period to a close. Using a wide variety of sources, including detailed court records and hundreds of depositions of witnesses and suspects, Jill Harsin examines revolutionary republicanism during the violent underground movement of the July Monarchy, and describes these events in vivid detail. The lives of 'ordinary men' are captured in their own words as Harsin illuminates the political aspirations of the working class. Harsin's original writing style and compelling discussions shed new light on the particular turbulence of this era, a period of disruption that stemmed from the contemporary working class codes of masculinity and honour.