History on the Margins

People and Places in the Emergence of Modern France

John Merriman

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780803295896
• eBook ISBN: 9781496213082
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire de la France

In his distinguished career as a historian of modern France, John Merriman has published ten books and scores of scholarly articles. This volume collects some of his most notable and significant explorations of French history and culture. In a wide-ranging introduction Merriman reflects on his decades of research and on his life, lived increasingly in France. At the beginning of his careerhe was determined to be not a narrow specialist but a historian who engaged with all the regions of France. So he set himself the goal of doing archival research in every single département of the country. A permanent resident of the small village of Balazuc in the Ardèche for more than twenty-five years, he laments what he sees as the over-professionalization of history at the expense of passion for one's field. Yet Merriman is no cranky, tweed-bound scholar. Beloved by generations of historians of France, many of whom he has mentored (both as a graduate advisor and more informally), Merriman offers reflections on his life in history that will be of interest to a broad audience of historians.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Doing History on the Margins
• 1. The Demoiselles of the Ariège, 1829–1831
• 2. The Norman Fires of 1830
• 3. Incident at the Statue of the Virgin Mary
• 4. The Language of Social Stigmatization and Urban Space in Nineteenth-Century France
• 5. On the Loose
• 6. Some Observations on the Transition to the Euro in France
• 7. I Went Up to Amiens Today
• Source Acknowledgments
• Notes
• About John Merriman
• Other Works by John Merriman