Republican passions demonstrates the crucial role of family and friendship networks in the creation of the French Third Republic. Based on the family archives of Léon Laurent-Pichat, journalist, Deputy and Life Senator, this study paints a rich picture of republican intimacy, sociability and political activity during the Second Empire and early Third Republic. It explores republican friendships and family connections as men and women worked together for the cause. In republican circles, as the book illustrates, the intimate and political realms were not separate but deeply intertwined and interdependent.

Reviews

'Susan Foley's Republican Passions is a beautifully written reconstruction of the life of Léon Laurent-Pichat, a man at the heart of republican politics in second half of the nineteenth century. Based on a rich trove of archival materials, it demonstrates how the new political formations of the era were supported by personal ties, emotional dispositions and cultural practices and sheds new light on the origins of the Third Republic.'
Sarah Horowitz, Professor of History, Washington and Lee University

Introduction
1 'Born alone and sad': family passions, 1823-51
2 'My brothers in poetry': passionate friendship and political upheaval, 1841-52
3 'Placing our pen at the service of liberty': friendship networks and the republican press, 1851-65
4 'Pure happiness': shaping a bourgeois family for the Republic, 1851-75
5 'Bound together forever': friendship, family bonds and republican solidarity, 1861-70
6 'The revolution was so beautiful and pure': Family, friendship and trauma, 1868-71
7 'Steadfast and enduring fidelity': friendship and honour in the fledgling Republic, 1871-76
8 'Such hope is in the air': bourgeois marriage and republican politics, 1851-80
9 'The task is magnificent and enormous': family politics in the 'republic of republicans', 1877-85
Conclusion
Index